The Big 21
by KRiSTiNEDAHLiNG
Summary: Rory Hayden turns 21...Hard to summarize...ROGAN or Sophie...AU!...LorelaiChristopher or Balcony Buddy...Hope you like it!
1. The Surprise Visitor

AU STORY! Rory grew up with Lorelai and Christopher as her parents in Hartford. Lorelai you will realize is still just as crazy and quirky. There is no LUKE though there is a Sookie and of course a Dean. Rory is basically a Chiltonite. She and Logan have a very intimate past that will come out slowly. Dean and Rory for like five minutes then it's ROGAN all the way. Thanks for reading. Tell me what you think. This is my first ROGAN fic.

Sun poured in through the east window of her large bedroom and caused her to stir slightly. She groaned from beneath the covers in response. It was too early for Rory Hayden to face the world. She was not what one would call a quote unquote morning person. The sun had finally seemed to given up on it's goal of waking her up when suddenly herself began to ring incessantly. She moaned and then felt around on her night stand for the noisy object. "Hello?" she greeted in a groggy voice. She didn't bother trying to hide the fact that she was sleeping. Whoever was calling her had to have known that she would be sleeping in especially on her birthday of all days.

"Happy birthday sleepyhead," Dean said in an overly cheery voice.

Rory struggled to get up and looked at her digital clock. 7:45. Who called people at 7:45 in the morning? "Thanks Dean…" She made a point to hide the anger in her tone. He knew that she wasn't a morning person and that she been out late last night with the girls.

Dean played dumb to the fact that he had pissed her off. "So what are we doing tonight?"

Rory grabbed her day runner off of her dresser and flipped it to today's date. She smiled when she saw the note that her mother had written. DINNER WITH FAMILY! DON'T BE LATE! OKAY WELL ONLY IF IT'S FASHIONABLE! It was written in metallic purple. No matter where her parents lived they were never really a Hartford couple they were both too quirky. "I have dinner with my family tonight…You could come too." She suggested. She knew though that he wouldn't want to come. They'd tried that once.

"Oh…"

She could sense his hesitation at the offer. Actually she was kind of happy. The last thing she needed was another speech from her grandmother about how she was a Gilmore and that they didn't talk with such…hooligans. She'd tried to explain that he was a regular guy not a hooligan. No degree meant no acceptance though for her family. "Or you could pick me up at 8:45. That way you we can leave unnoticed."

"That sounds great." He answered as he took a left hand turn.

Rory knew that he was going to accept that offer. "Okay 8:45 then?" 

"8:45." Dean assured her.

When she finally hung up the phone Rory sighed and tossed both her phone and day runner onto her dresser. It was only 8 she still had a while before anyone would expect anything out of her. Her eyes were heavy and closed and she felt that euphoria that overcomes you just before you fall asleep. Suddenly though someone began to knock on her door. She cursed loudly and continued to lay still. Maybe they would think that she was gone and leave her be. This person though seemed to know her too well and stood there knocking. Finally she heaved herself out of bed. "What kind of jackass wakes a person up at this time of the morning?" she asked loudly as she opened the door. Her attitude changed though when she realized who her visitor was. "Logan!" she exclaimed as she jumped at him. She hugged him tightly.

"Rory still not a morning person I see?" he remarked in that same cocky tone she'd hated in high school.

Gently she punched him on the arm and then pulled him into her room. He started to speak when she stopped him. "Go back to bed Paris!" she yelled. Suddenly a door was slammed shut. She turned his attention back to him. Her face was glowing.

She was pretty as he had remembered her. They'd known each other since they were young. They'd been neighbors since the day they were born. "It's been a long time Ace." A nickname she hated but had been given because of her journalist skills. She was an ace at finding the scoop.

"Well I wasn't the one who went off to Stanford." She countered.

He smiled. She was right. He'd left to escape the social status his last name held. He was unsuccessful though. They knew of his father. They knew of his fortune. Girls there were no different than the ones here. "No you weren't. You did the smart thing. You followed the plan. How's Yale?"

"Followed the plan?" she scoffed. He must be jesting. Unless of course word of her move to Stars Hollow had never reached him. That was possible. Sometimes things did remain a secret of sorts. It was a rare occasion when one did but that was not to say that it didn't happen.

He laughed. "What haven't I heard?"

"I moved away about a year ago to a small town called Stars Hollow. It was dinky and completely boring and I loved it. Mothers called me crazy and doubted themselves for trying to sell me their son's soul. Fathers thought questioned whether or not I was really a socialite at all. Mother called me. Begged me to come back home. Finally I gave in. I did miss our group. I hadn't been to an event in ages though I must say they lost a bit of charm when you left."

"Ace you've done it. You've shocked me. I can't believe you had the nerve to leave." He admitted. Rory had always been that girl who planned everything out. Who made a list and not only stuck to it but checked it twice. "So you weren't cut out to be a townie?"

She laughed at the preposterous word. "Afraid not, but I found that I am cut out to date a townie. It appears even people outside of Hartford know how to read and write. Who'd have thought?" she replied sarcastically. She frowned though when she noticed that something in his eyes changed. It was a brief change but still it was a change.

"What's his name?" he asked trying to mask the hurt. He hadn't wanted Rory to move on. Sure he figured she'd date, but not outside the circle. If she had stayed in the circle then he'd never have to worry. They were all his friends. They would have all moved on when he came back. Everyone knew that they were meant to be.

"Dean Forrester." 

Rory Forrester? The name didn't even flow. Not that Rory Huntzberger sounded much better. Still at least his name was a strong and prominent one that demanded respect. "How quaint"

Her brow wrinkled a bit because of the hostility that filled his voice. He sounded almost angry. She thought it best to change the subject. "So what brings you to the east coast on this fine day?"

"I'm appalled Rory. How could you think that I would miss celebrating the big 21 with you?"

She laughed and then hugged him again. "It's good to have you home."

He took in the mango scent of her hair as he hugged her back. It had always been so intoxicating and driven him mad. "Coffee." He said rather randomly.

"That sounds great. Give me ten minutes. I'll make myself somewhat presentable and then we can do breakfast." She agreed.

Upon exiting Rory's room Logan bumped into Paris who had not changed a bit since high school. "If it isn't my dear friend Paris…" he replied as he walked over to where she was standing.

"Hello Logan." She greeted her old friend. "Still chasing her I see."

He was taken a back by the forwardness of her comment. "Chasing who?"

She scoffed at his fake innocence. He knew who she was talking about. Everyone in Hartford knew who she was talking about. "Don't play dumb Logan it doesn't suit you. I guess you're here for this evening's festivities."

He nodded. "Of course I'm here to celebrate her big day. It'll also be fun to see the old gang. They'll all be in attendance won't they?"

"Of course everyone is going to be there. Every lush we went to school with. Rory's quite popular." Paris replied as she briskly moved around 

Logan laughed at Paris. Only she would call her best friends lushes. He turned around to see that Rory was already dressed. She'd more than likely just thrown something on but God was she still beautiful. He grinned at her.

"What?" she asked suddenly feeling self concious because of the way he was staring. 

"I don't know how you do it..." he admitted as he moved towards her. He linked arms with her and smiled. It was good to be here...with her.

After the two had left the room and the door had shut Paris couldn't help but scoff. At least now Plumber boy wouldn't be showing up and calling all the time. He just wasn't a suitable match for someone as sophisticated as Rory. Logan would be good for her. She'd be good for Logan. And Paris wouldn't have to worry about Rory moping about her lack of interest in Dean. Everyone won out.

A/N: There will be much more discussion of their past together in the next chapter. It gives you a better sense of how they got to where they are in this chapter. Thanks for reading.

The best kind of love is...complicated.


	2. Stephanie's Plan

Paris dropped the piece of toast that she had been buttering as soon as the front door to the apartment was shut. She was still having a hard time believing that Logan had just been standing in her living room smirking at her. No one except for Finn and Colin had seen Logan since he'd left three years ago for California. Even then they'd gone to visit him he hadn't come back home. She suspected that it was because he feared Rory would hate him. It wasn't impossible to believe that she would. He'd never told her he was thinking of not going to Yale. He'd only told her that he'd enrolled to Stanford after she'd found his acceptance letter. Paris smiled. She was glad he was back. Things had been different without Logan. Everyone had missed him. Rory missed him the most. She'd never admit that was true but it was. Paris grabbed the cordless phone off the hook and dialed Stephanie's number. It took four rings for Steph to answer. "Guess whose back!" she squealed into the phone.

Stephanie had been fast asleep when her phone had begun to ring. Colin must have been picking Finn up or something because she was forced to answer it herself. "Huh?" She was confused. Paris was squealing. Paris Gellar did not squeal. This had to be pretty exciting.

"Guess who was just standing in my living room." Paris replied. She knew that it wasn't fair of her to squeal into the phone. From the sound of Stephanie's voice she had still been asleep when she'd answered. Paris was going to contain her excitement.

Stephanie remained quiet on the other line trying to think up people for Paris to be excited about. "I don't know Ted Koppel. Was Ted Koppel standing in your living room?"

Paris laughed. "No but my God if he was then I'd really be squealing still this person is almost as good."

"Spit out." Stephanie was getting impatient. If he was almost as good as Ted Koppel then he was GOOD. She prayed she didn't come up with some stupid old author and that this was a legitimate interesting person.

"Logan Huntzberger!"

Stephanie gasped. "No…"

"Yes…" Paris assured her friend. She wasn't surprised that Stephanie was shocked. It was quite the news.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming? Or that I'm not dreaming?" Stephanie questioned as she pinched herself. "Okay so I'm not dreaming. But you are you dreaming?"

Paris laughed at Stephanie's disbelief. "If Ted Koppel had actually been in my living room I would have been convinced I was but I know that he was actually here because he along with Rory just left the house."

"Do you know what this means?" Stephanie asked. She was now just as excited as Paris had been when she first called.

Paris smiled. Stephanie was always scheming. "That you are going to make sure Rory breaks up with that townie Dean so that she will unite with Logan and they will have charming blue eyed socialite babies?"

"Exactly." She confirmed as she grabbed a pair of jeans off a hanger and searched for a cute top. "Oh but don't forget the part where her kid marries one of my kids and then the four of us are related." Stephanie added.

"How are you going to make that happen?" Paris wondered how Stephanie could be so sure that this would work. Sure there were definite hardcore problems in Rory and Dean's relationship. Sure she had unresolved feelings for Logan, but still this was Rory. This was Rory the thinker and planner who didn't do crazy things anymore. The last time she'd followed her heart it had led her to Logan who in turn left her. Would she really be willing to do that again? Paris wasn't so sure that she would give into temptation…no matter how sweet it was.

Stephanie sat down on the couch of her penthouse apartment and sighed. She really hadn't thought that far ahead. She knew why Paris doubted her ability to accomplish her goal. Rory had a tendency to think twice about things. Logan was the only one who'd been able to make her do really crazy things. If Logan was charming enough then Steph's job would be easy. Then it hit her. She'd need reinforcements. Really all she needed was one person to make this job possible. It was obvious who she needed. Not Lorelai who was especially close to Rory but wasn't really dependable enough at the end nor was she pushy enough. No Stephanie would need the one and only Emily Gilmore on her side. "I'm going to go down to the coffee shop and "accidentally" bump into them. I'm going to make up some excuse about being so busy with everything. Rory is going to automatically try to help me out. She's going to grab this dress that I'd been looking at for over a week at Macy's. I'll get her to grab it for me and when she gets there she'll run into the one and only Emily Gilmore who will automatically assume that Logan and Rory are back together again. From there I don't know what I'll do. No matter what though Rory and Logan are going to get back together or I'm going to give Colin back his ring."

"Don't say things you can't actually follow through with." Paris warned her friend as she nibbled on her piece of toast which had grown slightly cold.

"Your right so I won't give back my 3.5 karat white gold diamond ring that would even make Jennifer Lopez's look raggedy. Even more reason to make sure that they're going to get back together."

Rory chattered as they walked down the road from her room to a small coffee shop right outside of the campus. It was a cold October day. There were leaves covering the ground. Logan had his arm wrapped around her shoulder and had pulled her close to his side. Logan wasn't even able to really listen to what Rory was saying. He was too distracted by her beauty. God was she beautiful. He knew that she hadn't spent long putting on her makeup. She looked so different from the girls he'd experienced in California. All of them were Barbie wannabes. Rory was comfortable in who she was. "Paris is dating the editor." Rory whispered to him.

"Is it part of her plan to take over his job or something?" Logan asked after being brought out of his thoughts by her sudden remark. Paris hadn't really dated anyone since her boyfriend at Harvard. He couldn't for the life of himself remember the guys name but he did remember that the guy was older but really seemed to like Paris weird, anal retentive, obsessive compulsive tendencies and all.

Rory laughed. "No she seems to really just enjoy hanging around him."

"What happened to…Harvard boy?" Logan asked curiously. The last time he'd spoken to Paris about the subject of her boyfriend she seemed madly in love, and ready to get married.

"God we were all so in love in high school. Don't you remember that night on my balcony?"

Logan smiled wistfully. What a night that was. "Of course I do"

_Rory Hayden sat on her balcony drinking an iced coffee and reading one of her favorite novels "Valley of the Dolls." It was late in the evening and she was left to read by candle light. She didn't mind though. There were three weeks left until senior year started. She had spent most of the day with Stephanie preparing for their last year as Chiltonites. She'd found a cute Coach purse at some small vintage store in town. She was caught up in a sentence when her phone rang and disturbed her reading. She answered the phone in an irritated tone "Hello?"_

_Logan smiled. He'd just gotten inside his room. He'd spent the last few weeks reluctantly jet setting with his mother. As soon as he entered his room he noticed that Rory was sitting on her balcony reading. She was so predictable sometimes. He'd spent the last few weeks dreaming of her. There was something about the way her hair fell in her face when she was reading that just got to him. "Hey Ace. Whatcha reading?" _

_She looked up from her book and smiled when she saw him standing on his own balcony right across from hers. "Oh I'm rereading Valley of the Dolls. I'm a sucker for pill popping actresses. When'd you get home?"_

"_Three minutes ago. Pill popping actresses huh? Sounds like a good ole time. Mind if I come over." He knew there was no way she'd say no._

"_If you'd like." She pretended to not care if he came over but deep down she'd craved a conversation with him since the moment he'd left. She smiled as she watched him climb down the trellis of his house and then proceed to climb up the one that led to her own balcony. _

"_I'd like." Logan smirked as he sat down next to her. "I brought you something." _

_Rory sheepishly smiled. He was always buying her things. "What'd you get me this time?"_

_He pulled out a bag that she hadn't noticed before and grinned. He handed her the bag and watched as she looked at it skeptically. "Open it."_

_Rory opened the bag and began to remove things one by one. First she pulled out a book. At first glance she thought it was just a book but upon further examination she realized it was a baby book. "What's this?"_

"_That is just a little something to chronicle the first year of Logan Jr.'s life."_

_Rory scoffed. "Logan Jr.?"  
_

"_I was thinking it could be Emily, after your grandmother, if it's a girl."_

"_You've got balls Huntzberger." _

_Logan smirked. "I would hope I had balls I do plan on creating children with you one day."_

"_Is this your way of telling me that you are ready to be a couple?" Rory could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Logan always had a way of doing this to her. He'd get her thinking that he wanted a committed relationship and then would make some jackass remark to contradict his earlier statements. _

_Logan looked past her for a moment. Was this really his way of asking her out? He'd thought about her everyday while he was gone. Sometimes he'd stand at his balcony window hoping to get a peek of her. He made excuses as to why he needed to talk to her. "Yeah I'm asking you out. What do you say?" _

"_I say…you better not be pulling my chain…and then I say yes." Rory smiled and then softly kissed him on the lips. _

"_There's more in the bag." Logan replied against her lips. _

_Rory kept kissing him but stopped long enough to say "They can wait."_

"Things were so simple back then." Logan concluded as he opened the door to the coffee shop.

Before Rory even got a chance to respond she recognized a girly flirtatious laugh. She scanned the room for the person who owned that voice and smiled a sarcastic smile when she realized who was here. "Hey Stephanie." She greeted after leaving Logan to order her a plain black coffee.

Stephanie looked up from her magazine and pretended to be surprised to see Rory. "Oh my Rory I didn't think you'd be up yet. What are you doing here at this time of day?"

"I'm just grabbing a cup of coffee."

Stephanie smiled. "Oh did you come by yourself?" She thought it was funny the way Rory kept avoiding directly answering her question.

"No I came with a friend."

Stephanie smiled again this time in a more skeptical manner. "Oh yeah which friend?"

Rory took a deep breath and looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. He would be walking up soon. "Logan. I came here with Logan."

Stephanie pretended to be confused. "Logan who?"

"Logan Huntzberger your fiancé's best friend." Rory knew that at this point Stephanie was just screwing with her. There was no way to miss Logan. He was a little over 6 feet tall and had messy blonde hair. He had a tendency to stand out.

Stephanie cracked a big smile and then jumped out of her chair and proceeded to squeal. She had to make this look authentic. An over the top celebration is something that she would definitely do. "Oh that's so great! So when did you two get back together?"

Rory sighed. Talking to Stephanie sometimes felt like talking to her grandmother. She should have known that Stephanie would jump to the conclusion that they had reconciled. Everyone had wanted them to reconcile. Rory and Logan were one of the few couples in Hartford that actually treated each other like equals. They were competitive and ballsy. Outside forces made it hard for them. Logan couldn't take the feeling that they were always been watched and judged. He hated how fake people were. For once in his life he wanted to be treated as if he were no better than anyone else. So he chose Stanford. "Steph you know I'm with Dean. You know I've been seeing Dean for almost a year. Logan just came home to wish me a happy birthday and to hang out with the old gang. We aren't back together."

Logan walked up to the table holding two cups of steaming coffee. He knew that he had just walked in on a tense conversation. Rory was giving Stephanie the same shut up eye that she used to give him when they dated. It was such a cute look. If he told her that then he would have gotten the I'm going to kick your ass later look. Putting both of the cups on the table he accepted a big hug from Stephanie. "Oh Steph it's so great to see you again. Let me see the ring."

Stephanie held her hand out proudly. She loved to show off Colin's grandmother's 3 karat antique diamond ring. "So Logan I was just questioning Rory about you. Details Logan I need details about your trip."

"Awful forward aren't you Steph. Rory told you the truth I just came home to celebrate her birthday. I've missed you all and California isn't as great as it sounds in the brochures." Logan shrugged.

Stephanie watched him. She watched him talk. Then she watched him look at Rory. He looked at her with adoration. Sure he was home to just celebrate her birthday. Yeah and she was mother freaking Theresa. "Oh sounds lovely. Hey Rory are you going to be busy today?"

Rory looked at her friend skeptically. "Why?"

"Cause I need someone to pick up a dress for me. For Colin's mother's birthday party next Saturday. It's green. Could you do it for me I'm just swarmed today." Stephanie gave her friend an innocent look as she explained the situation. She prayed that Rory took the bite.

"Uh…Well…" Rory began to stammer as she tried to think up an excuse as to why she couldn't.

"Yeah we can do that for you…" Logan answered for her. He smirked at Rory's glare. He would do anything to spend more time with her.

Stephanie hopped up from her chair and gave him the biggest hug she could muster. "You enjoy every second you can get." She whispered into his ear. She knew why he said yes. He hated shopping unless he was drunk. Colin and Logan used to do everything they could to get out of shopping. The only kind of shopping that he liked was bikini shopping. "Thanks you guys. Well I better be going Colin should be home by now. The three of us will definitely see you tonight." She explained as she gathered her things to leave. She was smiling inside. No it was more like beaming. She loved those two together. They had to be together for her future to come true. No matter what happened her future was going to come through and Logan showing up was just further proof that they loved each other.

"Where was Colin?" Logan asked as he handed Stephanie her Modern Bride magazine.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "He was picking up Finn from some girls apartment. Appears he went home with her and was too drunk to remember where he was. So he of course called dear old reliable Colin who drove over there and picked him up."

Logan laughed. Finn had a tendency of going home with strangers. Still it was unlike him to not be able to remember where the stranger lived. "Which store?"

"Huh?" Stephanie hadn't understood what he was saying.

Rory had been quiet this whole time watching the exchange it was funny how easily Logan just became a member of the group again. He hadn't been here for a little over three years but nobody seemed to notice that. He complimented and flirted with Stephanie the same way he always had. He'd made her coffee just the way she liked half a pack of sweet n low. She hadn't even had to tell him. It was like he'd never left. She found herself become more attracted to him as she stood there. Dean. Still there was Dean. She couldn't give in to her feelings for Logan. He wasn't reliable. He didn't even live here. Dean lived here. Dean was reliable. Dean wouldn't hurt her. Dean wouldn't leave her to move half way across the country. Still Logan was dreamy, suave, debonair, cocky, sweet, and charming. Logan had this control over here that made her want to scream. She still loved him for some unknown reason. She still needed him. "Did you hear that Ace?" Logan questioned pulling her out of her thoughts.

"What?" Rory was a little confused. She'd been so caught up in the debate on whether or not Logan was a suitable person to love. So far he'd been winning by long shot. The fact that she loved him kind of helped.

Stephanie grinned. She knew why Rory was confused. She'd been thinking about Logan. She should have known that her friend was daydreaming about the handsome blond by the dreamy expression on her face. "I said the dress was at Rosanna's."

"Oh okay. Just come over a little before the dinner party begins and I'll have it for you."

Stephanie gave Rory a warm hug and Logan a peck on the cheek. Just as she was about to leave them alone she turned and called over her shoulder. "Behave you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't do with Colin!" As soon as she was outside the coffee shop she pulled out her cell phone and the sheet of paper she'd shoved in her pocket. She dialed the numbers jotted down on the paper and then waited for someone to answer. "Hello I'm calling to speak to Mrs. Gilmore is she in? … Okay then I'll wait for her…"


	3. Memories of the Past

Emily Gilmore was standing in the middle of her closet trying to find something acceptable to wear when she heard the knock on her bedroom door. She wasn't surprised to see her new maid Lillian walk in holding the phone. "Mrs. Gilmore there's a Stephanie Lancaster on the phone to speak with you…" Emily's brow crinkled a little in confusion. She knew the name but could not remember where. For a few seconds she stood there racking her brain for the name. Without a clue of who was on the line she took the phone deciding that maybe if she played it off Stephanie would basically tell her how she knew her. "Hello Stephanie how are you?"

Stephanie smiled. From the tone in Emily's voice she had no idea who Stephanie was. "Well hello Mrs. Gilmore. I was calling to share a bit of information with you concerning our dear Rory."

At the mention of Rory's name she remembered where she knew Stephanie from. She was one of Rory's good friends. Once she'd spent the night with them. "Oh well go ahead then tell me all about this acquired information."

"Well Rory's first love Logan Huntzberger is back in town for her birthday and I just left them at a coffee shop. I know for fact that you weren't pleased when they broke up after he announced that he was attending Stanford in the fall. There's something still there between Rory and Logan and I know that you see it too."

Emily was impressed with the girls scheming abilities. Lancaster. She must have been Susan and John's daughter. Susan had always been a schemer. "Yes my dear you're certainly correct but as we both know my granddaughter is stubborn. What do you suppose we do to make them rediscover these feelings?"

"Rory is the only one that has to rediscover these feelings. Logan is very obvious about the fact that he still loves her. Rory is going to be at Rosanna's this afternoon. I thought that you might want drop in. Maybe Lorelai will join you. I thought that maybe you could corner them. Ask them when this happened. They'll ask you when what happened. You know the drill. Pretend you think they're back together. Invite them to lunch. Make them remember their good times. Call me afterwards and we'll put phase two into play." Stephanie had stopped at this point to look at a new magazine.

Emily thought over the plan. It seemed fool proof. "Fine I'll do my end. I'm happy Rory has smart friends like you Stephanie. Talk to you later."

Rory and Logan sat down at the table in the back of the coffee shop talking about everything. Rory didn't want him to leave out a single thing when he described his new life. "Okay how many celebrities have you seen?"

Logan sat quietly for a moment trying to think. "Which list?"

"A list" she challenged.

"Two. I saw Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner at a Starbucks one morning. It reminded me of us in high school. You remember when we used to sneak out and go to Harry's."

_Logan Huntzberger snuck out of his bedroom and onto the balcony. He slowly climbed down the trellis. It was early in the morning. It was dark. The sun would not rise for hours. But he and Rory had a late night rendezvous. They would go have an early breakfast and then make out until the sun came out. Afterwards they'd return to their rooms as if nothing had happened. He loved the way she looked when they were doing this. She had this angelic quality about her. Every time he saw her he felt like he was watching some kid experience fireworks for the first time. As soon as he hit the ground he felt someone throw a snowball at his back. He turned around and saw her there with a challenging grin on her face. "Did you just throw a snowball at me?"_

_She giggled. "What if I did? What are you going to do about it?" _

_He walked towards her slowly. He smirked at her. "I don't know. Maybe I'll just do this." He ran at her and lightly tackled her into the snow. He gave her a kiss on the lips before picking her up and swinging her around. _

"_I can't believe you tackled me." She said in awe as they walked hand in hand towards his new BMW SUV. His father had bought it for him after he got the internship at the Boston Globe this summer. _

_He laughed. "You threw a snowball at me." He opened the door for her and helped her inside._

"_It's a really nice car. Was he there when he gave it to you?" She slowly ran her hands over the upholstery._

_Logan scoffed. "Now my dear beautiful Ace would that not require him to actually want to be here? He sent a note with it that was in his secretary's handwriting. Enjoy the car Logan my boy you deserve it, Dad XOXO. Can you believe he had the nerve to throw in the XOXOs?"_

"_I'm sorry he does that to you so often. You know I love you though right? You know I want to grow old with you right? You know that one day I want to sit in rockers on the front porch of our Cape Cod beach house and listen to the waves and watch our kids play and be content with who we are?" Rory asked. Her voice was as quiet as a whisper. It was almost as if she was bashful to admit her feelings about him. _

_Logan was speechless. Sometimes he wondered how he got lucky enough to have Rory love him. She was so sweet, beautiful, pure, natural, innocent, and smart. She was perfect in a quirky way. So she wasn't a morning person. So she wasn't happy without a cup of coffee in her system. So she wasn't a blonde bombshell. She was so much better than all of those things. "So there is going to be a Logan Jr.? I want that Cape Cod beach house. I want a library stocked with books that will last a lifetime. I want to drink coffee over the morning paper. I want to drag you along with the kids to Sox games and to cheer BALCO at Giambi, and Gay-Rod at A-Rod." _

_Rory simply smiled. She was happy that this was happening. "You know the other day my mom said something funny. She said that she didn't marry my dad because of me. She didn't him because it's what my grandparents wanted. No she married him because he could name her five favorites. He knew that her favorite band was Metallica. He knew that on any given day she would rather eat Mocha Chip Ice Cream than vanilla or rocky road. He knew that her favorite place in the whole world to escape from everything was not a foreign country or some distant place but actually was the bath tub. My father knew that my mom's favorite book on the face of the planet was "Getting Over Jack Wagner" because she too loved Jack Wagner during the eighties when soaps were more than just overly dramatic and trashy. Still the thing that got her to accept his proposal was the fact that he knew her favorite guilty pleasure listening to eighties hair bands like Bon Jovi on full blast in the shower before going to work. She said you know a guy loves you when he knows those things."_

"_Let's see Flogging Molly, Starbucks Italian Roast, and Cape Cod early in the morning when the beach is clear with a cup coffee in your right hand, Letters of the Century: America 1900-1999, and reading harlequin novels late at night on your balcony." _

"_Huh?" Rory was confused by his list. _

_Logan smirked. "Those are your five favorite's right? The band one was hard. It came down to that or We Might Be Giants. I took a chance."_

_Rory laughed. She went over the list again in her head and laughed. He was right. He knew her top five favorites. As they sat at the stoplight that was just before Harry's she kissed him passionately on the lips. "You were right. That's why I love you. We Might Be Giants comes into a really close second."_

"We were so crazy back then. It's a wonder we got anything done." She mused as she finished her coffee.

Logan shrugged. "Crazy or wise beyond our years?" he muttered under his breath.

"What'd you say?"

Logan looked at her with that same look again. "I said are you ready to go?"

"Yeah…we'll stop by my place and grab my car keys then we can drive there. I should pack a bag shouldn't I?" Rory said as she gathered her things.

"Why?" Logan said still somewhat caught up in his thoughts.

Rory linked arms with them as they left. "I'm probably going to crash at my parent's tonight."

"So am I."

Rory joked. "Well then maybe we can get together for a little sleepover."

"Yeah maybe…" Logan said pretending to be joking. In all actuality he was dead serious. There was nothing that he wanted more than to share a bed with Rory.

Emily Gilmore was still smiling brightly as she dialed her daughters' phone number. She knew Lorelai would question her intentions the moment she answered the phone. Though they had grown to be friends over the years Lorelai still had a hard time believing that this wasn't the woman who had been downright livid when she found out that Lorelai was pregnant. Emily couldn't blame her. She had been cold and insensitive to her only daughter and at the time had thought she was right in her actions. The moment though that Emily feasted eyes on Christopher holding a baby Rory she couldn't deny that her granddaughter was a gift from God. "Hello Christopher how are you?"

Christopher Hayden smiled when he heard Emily's pleasant tone. She was scheming. She was always scheming. "Fine Emily and how are you?"

"Oh me I'm just lovely. I'm so excited to see Rory's face when she realizes that we aren't forcing her to do the boring family dinner thing." Emily gushed.

"Well even though it's lovely to talk to you and I realize that I am your favorite son in law I sense that you didn't call to speak with me."

Emily laughed. Her daughter would have called it cackling but she considered it laughing. Cackling was just too shrewd a word for her taste. "Yes is she around?"

"Hey Lor your mom is on the phone!" Christopher called and then put the phone back to his ear. "She's coming. It was a pleasure talking to you Emily and I will see you tonight." Lorelai walked into the room wearing a pair of jeans and a chestnut brown sweater that matched her hair perfectly. At the moment she had been going over the guest list for an upcoming wedding that her inn was holding. "Hi Mom to what do I owe this early morning phone call?"

Emily smiled she was now going to be able to tell her daughter the plan. "What are you doing right now?"

"Nothing much why?" Lorelai didn't like the sound of her mother's voice. It was too cheery. She was planning something and it was big. She racked her brain for things that made her mother this happy and the only thing that she could really think of was Rory.

"What if I told you that Logan Huntzberger and Rory were gallivanting around town together right as we speak?" Emily questioned as she put on one her turquoise rings to match her turquoise broach.

Lorelai scoffed. "I would tell you that you were crazy because Logan is in California and Rory has been gallivanting about town with some boy named Dean who supposedly works as a plumber."

"Stephanie Lancaster called me a little while ago to inform me that she had in fact just run into Rory and Logan at a coffee shop at Yale." Emily remarked quite proudly.

Lorelai for the first time in a while was speechless for at least a whole minute and then she did the whole thing she could think of she cheered. "Finally that damn boy is back! I knew this day would come!"

"One problem…" her mother declared her voice no longer as cheery.

"Rory is too scared to let herself love him…again. He hurt her last time. She doesn't want that to happen again." Lorelai sighed. She loved Logan like her own. He reminded her of Christopher when they were younger. He was charming, well off, sweet, debonair, cute, and smart. He had a future. Even after becoming a father Chris managed to attend Yale and raise Rory along with Lorelai. It was never easy but it was usually fun.

"Correct." Emily confirmed. "But…"

"You have a plan!" Lorelai supplied. She was usually weary of her mother's plans. They were too dramatic and thought out for her liking. Like the one where she tried to play hooky between her gardener and her maid. This time though she thought that this plan wasn't all her idea. Stephanie had told her about Logan and Rory. That meant that Stephanie had thought this up on her own with the help of Paris of course. "Spill…"

A/N: I hope you liked this one! I LOVE THE REVIEWS!


	4. Lunch and Insecurities

A bright smile covered her features as soon as she realized that Rory's massive blue Range Rover had just pulled into the parking lot of the small boutique. She had been waiting for over an hour with Lorelai and though she enjoyed spending time with her daughter under the circumstances she would have preferred them to have shown up much faster. She had spent the last fifteen minutes finding flaws in Stephanie's once fool proof plan. and after that she questioned whether they would actually show up anytime soon or not. She had put all of her hope and prayers into them coming her today. The moment that Logan announced he'd be attending Stanford in the fall had seemed to hurt her almost as much as it had hurt Rory. She had seen all of her hopes and dreams for her sweet grandaughter go straight down the drain. Now though all of the plans were coming back to her. A beach wedding in Cape Cod in June. She even had a wedding to base this one on. Lorelai had forced her to watch it with her last week. It was for some couple called Boston Rob and Amber. It was quite the special event. One like it would be perfect for Rory and Logan. 

Lorelai looked over at her mother and instantly spotted the dreaded dreamy wedding look. It was the same look she'd given her when she'd announced that she would in fact be marrying Christopher. If there was one thing Emily Gilmore truly loved it was weddings. She was the Queen of both creating them and attending them. Still she was going to be in for a rude awakening when Rory fought her over the fact that she was no longer in love with Logan and was actually really into her new boyfriend Dean. Dean. God Lorelai wanted to support her daughter's venture on the wild side and she wanted to be happy that she'd found someone new but she couldn't. This Dean guy was nothing but a novelty right now. She would never love him because she could never relate to him. He was a suburbanite who'd never been outside of North America and Rory was a jetsetting debutante. If there was anyone who was perfect for her daughter it was the charming and sophisticated Logan Huntzberger who'd stolen her heart over ten years ago.

Logan opened the door to Rosanna's boutique for Rory and then out of instinct placed his hand on the small of her back as he led her into the store. It was a simple gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Rory. God he drove her crazy. "I think I see the dress…" he whispered into her ear.

His breath against her skin sent shivers up her spine. He was killing her. "Okay then just go on and lead the way…"

Logan grabbed her elbow gently and took her over to where he saw a green dress that screamed STEPHANIE hanging. It was skimpy and risqué and the type of dress that made her look too sexy to be engaged especially to a tight wad like Colin.

As soon as they reached the rack Rory heard her grandmother's familiar voice. It was so proper that it stuck out in a boutique like this. She turned around and gasped when she saw who it was. What kind of shitty luck did she have today? All she wanted to do was hang out with Logan on the down low and it seemed as if everybody and their brother wanted to be where they were and to see them together.

"Rory sweetheart!" Emily greeted as she kissed her young granddaughter on the cheek. Then she turned and pretended to be shocked. "Logan Huntzberger is that you?"

Logan smiled. "It's nice to see you Emily." He replied as he enveloped the smaller woman in a warm hug. Oh how sweet this was yet another person who loved him as Rory's boyfriend. Today couldn't be going any better.

"Oh Logan I'm crushed how is it that my mother has wooed you away from me? Is it the Benz? I have a Benz too now you know." Lorelai joked and gave him a kiss too.

"I shouldn't be surprised. Of course you would show up for Rory's big day. I mean we all know how much you love each other." Emily replied.

Logan grabbed Rory's shoulder and brought her close to him. "Right as usual Emily." 

"Are you two in here for any special reason?" Lorelai asked sweetly. She was trying to sound as innocent as possible. She wondered if Rory thought anything was going on. She looked over at her young daughter and saw nothing but a blank state. As if she was somewhere else. Wishing she wasn't here having to deal with this more than likely.

Logan shrugged his shoulders "We were just grabbing this dress right here for Stephanie and then we were just going to hang out in town before the festivities begin tonight." 

"Well then how about you two join us for lunch?" Emily suggested. She saw that Rory was about to protest. "I won't take no for an answer."

Rory felt extremely uncomfortable as she sat at the table outside of the cafe watching as every woman she'd ever met stared at their table. They were all gossiping about the fact that not only had Logan returned but he was with her. She should have known that her grandmother would want them to eat at the club. It was of course her favorite hang out. She looked up when she felt someone begin to gently nudge her foot. She looked across the table to see if it was her mother and realized that it had to be him. She gave him a disapproving smile and then went back to playing with her peas.

"Mom have you told Rory about the Cape yet?" Lorelai asked trying to bring up something that would lead to a funny anecdote about the two of them together.

Emily placed her fork down and then replied in a shocked tone "No I fogot all about it. I was so excited to tell her and then I just forgot." 

"What is it grandmother?" Rory asked no longer playing with her peas.

"Well you remember that little diner place that you two would spend so much of your summer at?" She waited for them to both nod and then continued "Well the owner has decided to name a meal after you two."

Rory lookat her grandmother confused "You mean two seperate meals right?"

"No one meal. He said that the lovers special is a little boring so he thought he'd spice it up but connecting it to a romance that spiced up the joint. He was telling me all about how you two were not only his most faithful customers during those summers but were really fhe inspiration for the lovers special. Now he wants to dedicate the meal to you."

Lorelai smiled and clapped her hands together. "Isn't that marvelous?" 

Logan laughed. "That sounds really wicked. What'd ya think Ace?"

"That sounds just peachy keen." Rory knew that if something didn't happen soon she too would fall into this dream world of them getting married again. She felt a slight tap on her shoulder and looked up only to see that all of the old ladies from the other table were standing there looking at her. "Yes?"

Missy Adams smiled brightly and then replied in a voice just as cheerful as her smile "We just wanted to congratulate you two on rekindling the magic you once shared. It was horrible when you two went your separate ways. So it's very lovely to see that you two are beating the odds and giving it another go." 

Emily jumped in. "You know Missy it's so nice of you guys to come over here. We were just celebrating the occasion ourselves."

Rory's eyes got really big. Shit. She hadn't ever made the point that they weren't together. She looked over at Logan. He was happy. His smile was dazzling. Everybody at this table was up for a reunion. The only problem was that she didn't know what to do? Stay with boring mediocre Dean or give it another go with suave but wild Logan? Just then her cell phone rang. She looked down to see who it was and groaned when she saw that it was Dean. Instead of answering the phone she simply shoved it back into her purse and went back to studying Logan.

Slowly he placed his hand on top of hers and smiled at her. He waited for her to protest to his action but instead she just sat there staring back at him.

I don't know if that was a very good chapter. I may have just cracked under the pressure. Still I hope to get another chapter up soon, but don't count on it. All I can promise is that in the next chapter there is going to be the big Dean breakup. Thanks for reading. Tell me what you think. 

The best kind of love is...complicated.


	5. Chucks and Pep Talks

Rory slammed the door to her bedroom behind her and sank to the floor. She was on the verge of tears and was finding it difficult to breath. It wasn't until she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder that she realized that Stephanie had been here the whole time watching her. "What's the matter Rory?" Stephanie asked in her sweetest voice.

Rory looked at her as if she was the dumbest person alive and then replied in a hostile tone. "What do you mean what's the matter?" 

Stephanie backed off a bit. She was unsure of the situation now. It wasn't like Rory to be so cross with someone. Usually she was nothing but smiles and sunshine with a little bit of worry sprinkled on top. Now though she was angry and hostile. A side of Rory that no one had seen since the last time Dean had tried hanging out with the gang. The whole time all he did was complain and play the victim but did Rory didn't see him in that light. All she saw was this sweet townie who had just swept her off her feet. "Last I checked mindreading wasn't one of my many dazzling talents so I'm afraid your just going to have to tell me why your own the floor sobbing..." 

"He's back here and no one seems to remember what that jackass did to me!" Rory yelled.

Stephanie sighed she shouldn't have been surprised. She thought that Logan would cause some conflict but not this much. "What happened after I left?" 

"Nothing that's just it. He was perfect as usual. He was sweet and charming. He said and did all the right things." 

Stephanie made a face that said and the problem is.

Rory smiled weakly at the face and then replied "I'm not over him. That's the problem. I can't move on with my life. When he was driving us back from lunch I started to imagine marrying him again. I started to have those visions of Cape Cod in the summer and reading the newspaper together in bed."

"And you're ashamed of yourself for falling in love with him again..." Stephanie finished Rory's sentence for her.

Rory laughed in this sarcastic and sad way. "Yes. Exactly." She looked over on to her desk where their used to be this random picture of Logan and Rory sitting together talking. She couldn't remember who even took it. She missed that picture. She'd put it away a week after he left. At that point she realized he wasn't coming back to her. "I mean he's still so amazing. He still can make me laugh. He still knows where to touch me to send tingles up and down my back."

"Well then Rory why fight it? Why not go back to him? Why not let yourself get over the past and the pain he once caused you and rekindle the flame?" Stephanie asked her friend. She knew that Rory would fall back in love with him. She knew that Rory would want him back. 

"I still have Dean who loves me."

"But you don't love him back!" Stephanie protested.

"Maybe I love him. Maybe I just don't know it yet." She tried to reason with her friend.

Stephanie shook her head. "You don't love him. You're settling. You're scared of getting hurt again by Logan so instead of going with the one you really love you're choosing someone safe."

"So what if I am?" 

Stephanie shook her friend lightly. "You can't choose your head over your heart. Everyone knows that. I'm not saying that there isn't some chance that Logan is going to hurt you again. There is always that chance. Still life is a game of chances. You have to be willing to take a risk everyone once in a while."

Rory looked back to that same spot on her desk.

"This is the right risk to take." Stephanie finished. "Now on a happier note I have something for you."

Rory looked back at her friend and smiled. There was no hating or fighting with Stephanie. When she believed in something she pushed you to believe it to and often succeeded in making you a believer too. "What?" 

Stephanie walked over to Rory's closet and pulled out the three packages she'd brought with her. First she handed her the biggest box.

Rory opened it slowly and cautiously as if a killer snake were going to jump out. Instead she found a long ballroom gown the same color of her eyes. "Oh please tell me this isn't going to be some dreadful ballroom dancing session. I hate those. I mean I didn't even like coming out because of the heels." 

Stephanie laughed. "Well then I guess you'll be pleased to see what's in this box." She handed her the second biggest box.

Rory squealed when she opened it. "You bought me a custom pair of Chucks!"

"Well Finn found them online and convinced me to buy them for you." She explained. "Still you have got to calm down some because you still have one more box."

Rory got off of the floor and hugged her best friend. "I can't believe you remembered." Rory held the small cheap plastic tiara in her hand. It was the kind you wore when you were a little kid on your birthday with a feather boa. It was the kind that her grandmother didn't approve of. She'd once told Stephanie that if there was something she ever really wanted for her birthday was one of the tiaras. Now in her hand she had one. 

Stephanie stopped smiling and mustered up her most strict voice. "Now you go and get ready and in an hour and a half your escort will be here to pick you up.

"Thanks Steph I don't know what I would do without you..." Rory said as she hugged her.

"You'd be a mousy reporter girl who we all called Mary..." Stephanie joked as she left the room.

Just as Rory fixed the tiara on her head she heard a knock on the door. She had spent half of her getting ready time trying to figure out who her escort was. At this point she was positive that it was Logan. Who else would Stephanie send to escort her? She sashayed to the door and then opened it with a dazzling smile plastered on her face. The small soon disappeared though when she realized that it wasn't Logan. Instead it was Dean. Stephanie had been a good and loyal friend and sent good ol' Dean to be her escort. He was in fact her boyfriend. She sized him up in a conspicous manner. He was wearing what she guessed were his nicest clothes. A white button down shirt with a black tie and a pair of khaki pants. "It's you..." The words accidentally escaped from her mouth as her gaze returned to his face.

"Of course it's me. Who else would it be?" Dean looked at her with a confused expression plastered on his face. 

"No one it's just you surprised me." She explained forcing a fake but dazzling smile back on her face.

The smile returned to his face. "Yeah it was that blonde's idea." 

"You mean Stephanie?"

Dean nodded as he spoke "Yeah she has been planning this for I guess weeks." 

The doorbell sounded and Rory tried to look down the stairs. "Well we better go ahead down there it sounds like my guests are arriving." She just started walking not even waiting for him. She had to get to Logan. She had to explain all of this. She didn't want to spring this on him. She didn't want to cause him any pain. 

HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BE UPDATED VERY SOON! I ALREADY HAVE IDEAS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER! I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS ONE! THANKS FOR READING! DON'T FIGURE TO TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF IT! 

The best kind of love is...complicated.


	6. Blindfold and Tacky Limo

Rory prayed that when she reached the bottom step she would find Logan's cocky ass standing there smirking. It would make things so much easier for her. Instead though she found that as soon as her foot hit the bottom step she was blindfolded by who she presumed was Finn because of the smell of Foster's in the air. She felt her chest tighten. This wasn't funny. If Logan was standing there then he would see Dean before she got a chance to explain that she hadn't invited him. "Finn is Logan here?" she whispered quietly just to make sure if Dean were anywhere near her that he would not be able to hear.

"No he's not here yet. He's meeting us at the party." Finn explained and then laughed in his usual drunk manner. There were few things you could count on in life. For Rory it was that Stephanie would always have mango passion lip gloss in her purse, Colin would always pay the check, and that Finn would be halfway drunk by 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Some would call these things dysfunctional, Rory called them comfort.

Rory let out a breath of relief. She'd find him at the party. Surely it wouldn't be that hard. "Okay I have five questions: Who else is here besides Finny, Dean, and me? How long do I have to wear this blindfold because it reeks of one of Finn's one night stands? Is this blindfold off of a one night stand? Where are we going? Why do I have to wear a blindfold?"

"Yes!" Stephanie exclaimed. "Ha give me my fifty bucks suckers I told you five questions. I don't know how you could go with ten Finn. Colin are you actually so naïve that you would think we would get off answering only one?"

"I didn't want to bust." Colin explained. Rory recognized the rustling of a fifty being shoved into Stephanie's hand.

"Is anyone going to answer my questions!" Rory demanded. She should have known that would do something like bet on her. It was such a trademark LDB move.

"We'll answer two of them but ONLY two. Make them good ones Ace." Stephanie compromised. If she had it her way they would leave Rory completely clueless struggling with the thought of whether or not this blindfold had been on one of Finn's "dates". That is if you actually thought of them as a date. Sure there was dinner. Maybe they even shared a glass of one. Still there was never dessert of the sweet and edible persuasion. Of course the one exception would be the time he dated the girl who wear edible panties. The mere thought of that girl made Stephanie want to yak.

Rory sat there quietly contemplating her choice. Would it be better to ask where she was going or were the underwear off of a one night stand? "Okay fine I have got to know about this damn blindfold is this from one of Finn's little adventures? Two if they are from an adventure a) why am I wearing it and b) for how long?"

Stephanie laughed. She knew Rory would go with the blindfold questions. Even though where they were going was a better choice. She knew that they would never give her a straight answer. "No the blindfold is not off of one of Finn's "adventures" and sneaky Rory I love how you are busting out a two part question you will wear it till we get into the limo and then after we get to the destination you will put it back on until we take it off of you."

Before Rory could even respond she found that she was being lead out the door. This time she thought it was Dean who was probably thinking of some snide comment that he would later say about her friends because he didn't have the balls to say it now. Suddenly though the darkness turned it to extreme brightness as she found that she was in the tackiest limo…ever. "What did you steal this from a 70s porn star?"

"No but it probably would have been cheaper if we had." Colin joked.

Rory laughed at the site of him and Finn. Both of them were in tuxedos which reminded her of a bad 80s prom picture. "So Finn you flying solo this evening?"

She laughed when she saw him shoot Stephanie a dirty look before returning his attention back to the conversation. "Yes because Stephanie proclaimed your birthday extravaganza a quote unquote ho free zone."

"Then how will Madeline and Louise get in?" Colin asked in a feigned innocent tone.

Stephanie sighed. "Leave them be Colin."

Dean who had been quiet for the entire conversation suddenly spoke. "Who are Madeline and Louise?"

"Madeline is my cousin whose bed has more visitors a year than the Grand Canyon. Louise is Stephanie's cousin who if you can believe it can actually make Paris Hilton look like a nun." Colin explained his voice filled with nothing but disgust.

The mood would have been tense if not for the sudden outburst by Finn. "Why haven't I gotten to make my acquaintance with either one of these fine ladies?"

Everyone but Dean laughed obviously missing the humorous moment. Sometimes Rory thought that his childhood must have mostly occurred underneath a rock. That or he was dropped on his head daily for five years and then released into the real world. Of course afterwards she would feel like a superficial snob but that didn't help stop the feelings from happening.

"Miss Lancaster we are about a minute from the party." A voice said over the intercom.

Once again Rory was attacked and blindfolded. Soon after she felt the limo stop and then the door opened. Finally she was going to get a chance to celebrate her birthday. Once again she said a small prayer that basically went please don't let this be some stuffy boring affair. When she walked into the venue she noticed two things that it was dead silent and hot. She wondered where she could be. She was lead up a few stairs and then pushed into a soft plushy chair. Very abruptly her mask was removed and she realized that even though the place was quiet it wasn't empty. She looked into the crowd of over two hundred people and smiled.

Stephanie smiled even brighter when she realized that she had driven Rory to be completely speechless. "Well everybody thank you for coming! Welcome to the Lava Lounge if you haven't been here before! Now let's and I'm only going to say this once and after getting super plastered won't even remember uttering the words but here it goes LET'S GET DOWN WITH OUR BAD SELVES! LET'S GET JIGGY WITH IT!" Suddenly music poured from the loudspeakers and the room went from quiet to booming in seconds.

It wasn't until Rory saw his familiar messy blonde hair that she remembered her task. She hopped up from her seat just as the beginning to "Welcome to the Jungle" began to fill the room. She looked over to where she had seen a stage and realized that this wasn't just a bar…it was karaoke bar and her mother and father were about to sing Guns. She decided then that this would be an interesting evening. She reached him after a bit of sidestepping and tapped his shoulder.

Logan turned around a beer in his right hand and a smile plastered on his face. He was very happy to be back in familiar surroundings. It had taken him long at all to remember why he loved Hartford so much. "Well if it isn't the birthday girl herself. To what do I owe this honor? Let me guess my charm."

She scoffed. "No more like I had something to tell you."

"Rory I know what you're going to say." Logan said with a smile.

Rory who was already getting dumber by the second just being in his presence thought he was being serious. "Who told you? Stephanie? Colin? Finn?"

"No really it was the goofy grin on your face when you laid your eyes on my sexy physique that said that you wanted to profess your love for me."

Rory rolled her eyes. She should have known. "No really I have something to tell you."

"What is it?" Logan suddenly became aware that she wasn't joking around anymore. She really seemed desperate to say something.

"I just wanted to say…" Rory started but before she could get the whole statement out she felt a firm and rough hand on her shoulder and turned her head slightly to see that it was Dean standing there behind her. She closed her eyes and willed him away telepathically. She opened only to find he was still there. She looked at Logan whose face had suddenly gone from bright and chipper to solemn.

"You must be Dean." He replied in a gruff formal tone. "I've heard a lot about you."

"And you are?" Dean questioned. His tone was protective. He was so intent on not letting this other guy out talk him that he hadn't noticed Rory trying to get out from under his hand.

Rory piped up at this point not sure what Logan would say out of anger. He was known to shove his foot in his mouth. "This is one of my really good friends Logan Huntzberger."

"Oh the one who left you for college" Dean suddenly realized that he was face to face with the one guy Rory had ever loved. At that moment he wondered if she cared for him in the way that she had cared for Logan.

Logan didn't like Dean's tone. Logan didn't like Dean's protective manner. Most of all Logan didn't like the fact that Dean had his hands all over Rory. "I prefer to call myself Rory's first love."

"Too bad you left well at least for you. I sort of lucked out because of it." Dean shot back.

Logan opened his mouth to speak. Then he looked down at Rory. He could see that she was torn. He could see that was in pain. Instead of responding he walked away replying over his shoulder "I'll see you later on Rory…"

Rory looked over at Dean and then asked angrily "What was that all about?"

"What do you mean?" Dean asked pretending like he usually did to not realize that he was in the wrong.

"I mean that damn tough guy act. You didn't have to be rude to him." Rory seethed.

Dean looked at her in awe. Why was she saying these things? She knew better than anyone that these people were all snobs. He had to be defensive to survive. He had to cut them before they could cut him. "Well Rory I just had to make it clear that you were mine now."

"Yours?"

"Yeah mine. You're my girlfriend. He needs to know to back the hell away from you. Your taken." Dean said his tone icy cold.

"I'm not your damn property. If I thought that he was hitting on me I would have told him to stop it. Logan isn't that kind of guy. We're just friends now." Rory's voice was filled with anger at this point.

Dean grabbed her arm. "You didn't look like just friends. You looked like you were about to make out with him or something. You liked like someone about to give into temptation. I was just telling that temptation to not even count on you giving in."

"Where the hell are you getting that from?"

Dean rolled his eyes as if she was the one not making sense. "I know all about you rich girls. You get everything you want. The things you want most are the ones you can't have."

"Get out of my party!" Rory said in an angry whisper.

Dean looked at her shocked. "What?"

"I said get out! Get out right now!"

"You don't mean that Rory." He said his tone firm.

Rory clenched her teeth. "Get out or else I'm going to have the men's lacrosse team from Chilton kick you out!"

"You wouldn't."

Rory laughed. "You want to make a bet."

Dean let go of her wrist and then looked at her for a second before stalking off. She saw the door to the place open and close and then he was gone. She looked down at her wrist and saw that it was red from where he had held her.

Logan had seen the whole scene from where he was sitting with Finn and Madeline. He'd have to find out later how Finn knew to scope out Madeline as a possible date for the evening. Right then he was more occupied with Rory. He got up from the table and went to where she was. "Are you okay?"

Rory looked at him. She looked into his eyes. She saw then what she had seen before and smiled. He was back. Here Logan was back. "I am now…."

I will update as soon as I can. Thanks for reading. Tell me what you think.


	7. A Photo Album and Coffee

Carrying her shoes in her left hand and her crown in her right Rory quietly walked up the long staircase to her bedroom. It was almost three in the morning and even though the main party had ended around two and a half hours ago she was just strolling in. After the party was over she hopped in the limo with Colin, Finn, Stephanie, Logan, and much to Colin's dislike a very drunk and super obnoxious Madeline. In the limo Finn admitted to what Colin had said all along after Louise suggested that they go to the bathroom together. They all decided to go to the only place open at this time of night IHOP. On the way out she heard the waitress gasp when she saw how much her tip was. Rory figured it had to be an hundred because she knew for fact that was all that Finn carried and he had been the one to leave it. Logan paid the nearly $200 dollar bill. The only reason that it cost so much was that they bought the entire menu twice because when you're drunk and rich you have a tendency to be a wee bit extravagant. Now here she was twenty one and half drunk trying to make it up the stairs which she was finding to be unusually challenging. It took her almost ten minutes but finally she got to her room. She opened the door, dropped her shoes, tossed her crown on the desk, and then allowed herself to fall backwards onto the bed. She laid there for a moment just quietly thinking about how great tonight had been. Ever since Logan had left parties had been completely drab. They lacked the qualities that made them interesting. She was almost half asleep when she smelled fresh roasted vanilla bean coffee. It was intoxicating. Suddenly she was no longer tired.

Christopher Hayden was sitting at his kitchen table looking through a photo album when Rory walked in the room. He was quiet for the most part only making noise whenever he flipped to a funny picture.

Rory watched her father quietly. She didn't want to disturb him. It wasn't usual that he ever really got alone time. All day he was holed up in his office making deals left and right. At night he spent time with Lorelai watching movies and just being together. Friday nights everyone met for dinner at the Gilmore's. On Saturdays when the Sox were playing at Fenway Park Rory and Christopher would go to the majestic setting and catch a game. Finally there were Sundays where he played golf in the morning and relaxed for the rest of the night. It was a never ending cycle. Her father wasn't good at being spontaneous and for the most part neither was she.

"Just getting in Rory?" Christopher asked without ever turning his head from the page. He'd heard her stub her toe on the way. She didn't really make a sound she just sort of sighed.

Rory smiled. He'd known she was there the whole time. "No I got in a little over a half hour ago. Actually I was almost all the way asleep when you made a pot of coffee."

"I should have known I would have gotten one of my girls up. I could play an electric guitar in your mother's ear and she wouldn't even flinch but a cup of coffee gets her right awake."

Rory nodded and laughed a little as she took the seat next to him. "What are you doing at this time of night?"

"Reminiscing"

"Reminiscing about what?"

Christopher flipped the page and then looked at his daughter. "Did you know that when your mother went into labor I was taking my SATs across town? I got to your grandparents house and the maid was hysterical yelling over and over in Italian "Hospital! Bambina! Hospital! Bambina! So of course I'm freaked out. I just took the test that decides whether or not I get into Yale and here is another curveball your mother is in labor. So I haul ass across town and I make it just in time for them to wheel your mother into the delivery room. When I got there your mother says "You better have gotten a 1400 because I just spent the last hour singing 99 red balloons while my mother attempted to coddle me. That was it. She wasn't angry at me for not being there. She just demanded that I do well."

"No one ever told me that story before."

Christopher smiled. "It's so hard to see you as an adult now. I mean I still remember when you were little and you didn't know all the answers to life."

Rory gently placed her hand on her father's. "I will never know all the answers to life. Like whether or not I should spend the rest of my days with Logan or not." Rory said quietly. You could tell that she was a little upset despite the fact that she was still a wee bit drunk.

"Rory if there is anything I could ever give you advice about its complicated love, because that is exactly what your mother and I share. See sometimes I wonder if your mother really needs me. I mean sure I buy her favorite ice cream and I make most of the money that pays for this house. I'm the one who pushed her to buy that inn, but for the most part your mother doesn't need me. See that was always the thing about her she never needed anyone. While most of the kids we went to school with relied on their parents for everything your mother wasn't like that. If she wanted something that she knew her parents wouldn't buy instead of giving up on her wish to own it she instead just worked for it. I've known Logan almost as I've known you and I can tell you one fact about your relationship with him he's always given it everything he had to give. He loved you the best he could which was really great considering he didn't grow up in a home full of love like you did. When you two were five you thought it was weird that Logan was going to boarding school instead of elementary school with you. Basically it wasn't until you were both what nine that Logan got to attend regular school and that was only after he got himself kicked out of most institutions. Even then it wasn't like his parents were there for him. When you came home from school people asked you how your day was, but Logan only had his nanny to ask him that. Every summer we all went to Cape Cod, but Logan went with Honor and his nanny. See Logan learned to love from you which means in a way he'd always love you. The only problem was he wanted to be his own person he wanted to make his own choices and if he went to Yale that would never have happened."

"Then why didn't he ask me to go with him seeing you as know so much about his mindset?" Rory said she was now getting a little teary-eyed.

Christopher put his arm around her shoulder and brought her close. "You would've followed him and he didn't want you to leave your mother. He knew how much going to Yale meant to you and he didn't want to see you screw up your life for him. Rory the only reason I can think like Logan is because in many ways I was Logan. I loved your mother so much because she was able to love not like most of the kids at school who were able to shop and bribe. Logan leaving didn't mean that he didn't love it just means that he couldn't bear to live here. Him coming back is a sign though that he regretted it. I wouldn't be surprised if he talked about transferring to Yale."

"I hope so because I can't stop loving him. I tried. I mean I went out with Dean for a good year. I even tried to erase his memory from my life. I went to Stars Hollow."

"Right you went to Stars Hollow running from being the girl who went out with Logan and sadly he left her for California. Logan left running from being Mitchum Huntzberger's son." Christopher pointed out.

Rory smiled and nodded. "When did you become so poignant and poetic?"

"I guess it was that weekend where I got so board I read one of your psychology books." Christopher joked. He got up from the stool and went to leave the room only he handed her the phone before he did.

Rory looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"Call him Rory. Don't be foolish and let the past stop you." Christopher told her and then gave her a kiss on the forehead before leaving the room. He was tired and drained from being so emotionally deep. He looked back over his shoulder one more time and took a good long look at his now twenty one year old daughter and felt for the first time really old.

Rory sat there for a few minutes going over the pros and cons to calling him. Mostly the one real con she could find was that of she would have to admit that she still loved him and if she did this now there would be no taking it back later. Rory went over to her kitchen window and looked up to see if his bedroom light was still on. She wasn't surprised when she saw that it was. She slowly dialed the number to his cell phone and waited patiently to see if he answered. If he didn't she knew that she wouldn't be willing to put herself out there like this again. Three rings and then just as she was going to hang up she heard his voice. "Where are you I'm in your bedroom and you're not here." Logan said his voice was filled with this childlike laughter and amusement.

"You're upstairs in my room?" Rory replied shaking her head as she walked to the refrigerator to get some stuff out for them to eat. Suddenly she felt like a cookie would do her good.

Logan chuckled. "Of course where else would I be? I mean that is where you my fair lady rest your head at the end of the night isn't it?"

"Oh Logan no old English tonight. Just come to my kitchen. That's where I am." Then she hung up the phone and sat down on a stool.

It only took Logan a moment to get downstairs of course there was the awkward moment where he had to slink past her parent's bedroom. This was made more difficult by the fact that he had just a tad too much to drink tonight. As soon as he entered the room he smelled two things coffee and Oreos. "What are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be upstairs in your room asleep from all of the wine coolers you consumed."

Rory laughed. "Unlike you I paced myself and believe me the amount of alcohol in my system is nowhere near the amount in yours. Plus if I were up there then I would have had to deal with nighttime prowlers."

"What are you looking at?" Logan asked kind of suddenly. He'd seen the book when he took a seat but couldn't make out what it was.

"Oh this it's just a collection of embarrassing memories that have been collected so that one day they can be used against us." Rory said with a shrug of her shoulders. Rory flipped the page and smiled. It was one from their debutante ball. It seemed like so long ago even though it was a little less than five years. Two things were obvious in this picture Rory had not been one of the girls to trip on the stairs and that Logan and her were head over heels in love with one another and there was no denying it.

Logan gently began to play with her hair twirling it around on his finger like he'd always done when they were sitting somewhere together. It was one of his many signs of affection for her. "You were so gorgeous that night. I mean God you stole the show. I mean remembering thinking when you walked down those stairs that I was the luckiest guy there." Then he gently kissed her on the lips.

"All I really remember is how jealous those girls from Jonas Academy where when they found out that I was the famed Rory Hayden who dated the charming and debonair Logan Huntzberger. I think they would have taken me out if it weren't for Stephanie telling them to go be bitches somewhere else because nobody wanted their second rate shit. God she's all been there for me. Once she told me that there was a time she was jealous of me because I had you but she said it lasted for literally two hours because then she saw why we were together and it clicked that we were perfect for one another. She said that if people could see that then they wouldn't want him as much anymore. I asked her what she meant by we were perfect together. She goes like one example is the fact that you guys like to watch CSPAN together. You act like it's a good movie. I guess most healthy teenagers our age don't watch CSPAN."

"No I doubt that most people think watching Tony Blair speak was quite as funny as we did. Oh my God I can't even remember what he was talking about this one time all I remember is you lost control you were laughing so hard and then I started laughing. You fell off the bed and your dad came to see what was wrong and I had tumbled after you and things didn't exactly look you know "kosher" but he looked at the television and said "You guys really got to get over Tony Blair's accent and the way he says some things. It's not that funny." Then your dad turns around and walks out the door shaking his head."

"Dean hated CSPAN he always wanted me to change the television to something else whenever I was watching it." She whispered quietly and then turned her head to look him in his eyes. "Logan I still love you. I never stopped. Please whatever you do though don't hurt me. I don't think I would be able to cope as well as I did last time which was really pretty shitty." She was on the verge tears and was trying to hold them back but was struggling.

Logan felt his heart aching for her. Could he promise that he wasn't going to hurt her again? He didn't know if he could. He'd been thinking about transferring since the moment his plane landed. Actually he'd been thinking about it since the moment he left. Still he'd have to be back here. He'd have to be back by his father. Was he willing to move back here just to make her happy? He was pretty sure the answer was yes. That he would move back. He didn't think he could stay away even if he tried. "I'm going to try not to hurt you Rory. I know I hurt you before and I'm sorry. I don't know how I lived with myself after leaving you. I felt so awful that I ached. That first night in my dorm room was so bad. I started to dial your number sixty four times. I had never felt so alone before. Each time I got to that last number I stopped myself because suddenly that pained expression that you had one your face popped into my head. I couldn't face hearing the tears in your voice again." He pulled her close and kissed her with a passion that she had missed. It felt so good to have her in his arms again.

Rory closed the book and grabbed his hand. All she wanted to do tonight was to sleep in his arms the way she had done in high school when her parents were out of town. She needed to feel the sturdiness of his abs. She wanted to feel safe again. As soon as they got up to her room she saw that he was planning to stay with her anyway. She stepped out onto her balcony momentarily and saw that his father was home. She turned back and looked at him. "I know whatever he said to you must have hurt." That was it and then she went into her closet to get into her pajamas. She knew that he didn't think they were going to do anything more than sleep together. When she got out of the closet wearing an old t-shirt she saw that he was already laying in her bed. She smiled. She climbed in beside him and snuggled close to him. Just before she fell asleep she whispered quietly "I love you Logan."

Logan watched her and memorized her face. "I love you too more than you'll ever know."


	8. Golf and Wedding Venues

Stephanie Lancaster whipped her silver Jeep Grand Cherokee into Rory's driveway and then hurriedly parked it behind Rory's Range Rover. There was a look of determination written on her face as she got out with the car still running suggesting that she didn't think she was going to be in there too long. She was wearing a pink sweater, a pair of tight fitting jeans, and Pink New Balances which could mean only one thing; she was in the mood to shop. She took the stairs to Rory's front doors two at a time not even having to look down. It was as if she had made this trip a thousand times. Without even knocking or ringing the doorbell Stephanie opened the door and walked inside. It took her less than minute to get up the stairs to Rory's room. She considered allowing Rory to open the door herself but decided against it knowing that Rory probably wouldn't even both answering it. She opened the door and walked inside to see that Rory must have been bundled under the covers. There was no head to be seen. She slowly walked to where it looked as if Rory's head was and bent down to wake her. She pulled the cover back and whispered "It's time to wake up Rory." She almost screamed and jumped out of her shoes when she realized that she wasn't talking to Rory but rather a groggy but amused looking Logan.

Logan had been laying there quietly dozing when he heard the door to Rory's room open. He knew that it had to be Stephanie because of the way her shoes squeaked as she walked across the room and by the way he heard her whip her car into the driveway like it was nobody's business. He concluded that she was wearing her shopping sneakers. It had taken him only a second to decide that it would be funny to just lay here and let her freak herself out by not saying anything. "She's in the shower. She said that she knew you'd be here early." He flashed her his dazzling and somewhat famous smile.

"I can't believe it. I knew that you two would get back together but to think that you guys would be so comfortable with one another again was in my opinion a long shot. I knew she still loved you. Logan I want you to know that if I ever become poor you better get my ass out of the poor house because I was always your biggest supporter when it came to you getting back together again." Stephanie said now sitting next to him on the bed.

"Don't worry I'll never allow you to be in financial ruin. So what's with the can do attitude?"

Stephanie scoffed at his joke. "If you must know I have to go book the venue today and the florist. Rory is coming with me because my fiancé won't." You could tell that she was miffed at Colin by the way she called him her fiancé. She only referred to him in such a distanced manner when she was mad at him. "He informed me this morning that he was going to hang out with you and Finn today but that if I wanted we could all meet for lunch at the club and then get in a few rounds of golf.

"It'll all be good and you don't want Colin there anyway he'll start talking finances and you get bored and hostile and everything will be a big bust. We'll meet for lunch. Play some golf. It'll feel like the good ole days." He said and then squeezed her hand slightly.

Rory walked out of her bathroom wearing an outfit very similar to Stephanie's. She smiled at the fact that Stephanie was here. She knew that she had made plans to go with her this morning. "Ready to go?" she asked as she grabbed her purse and a few other things from off of her dresser.

"Of course I've been waiting on you this whole time. I must say though I was with charming company so I can't complain." Stephanie winked at Logan and then went to stand over by the door. "I'll just wait for you downstairs."

Rory sauntered over to where Logan was sitting. "I wish I could stay and read the paper with you." She gave him a small kiss on the forehead. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah I'm going to hop in your shower and then head over to Colin's. Stephanie said he wanted to spend the morning hanging out and then we'll all meet for lunch at the club. I hope you've been practicing your swing because I feel a butt whipping coming on." Logan gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Go and help Stephanie with everything. She seems really overwhelmed."

Rory gave him another kiss but this one was much more passionate than the first two little pecks. Then she left. As soon as she stepped out the door she saw that Stephanie had in fact just stepped outside instead of gone downstairs like first promised.

As soon as they got into the car Stephanie started to bombard Rory with an endless supply of questions. So many in fact that Rory was having a difficult time keeping up with her. "Slow down Stephanie. Ask one question at a time."

"Sorry it's just well this is so big Rory. I mean like huge! Like it's as big as the baby that would come out if you mixed Godzilla and King Kong together." Stephanie shrugged at the where the hell did you get an expression like that from look Rory was shooting her and then went back to talking. "Okay so what changed about everything? I mean okay last night I saw that you two were back on friend terms and a little more than that at IHOP but nothing to this degree."

Rory looked out the window for a moment while she collected her thoughts. "Last night when I got back from everything my dad was sitting in the kitchen looking through this old photo album. I sat down with him and we started talking. For the first time in our lives my father and I had this really deep heart to heart about everything. He made a point that I refused for so long to believe even though deep down I knew it was true."

"Which was?" Stephanie pressed as she took a left hand turn.

"Logan didn't leave to hurt me. He left to stay sane. I understood it finally because it's why I went to Stars Hollow. I needed to keep everything emotionally in order. For so long I thought I was okay. My dad made me see that I wasn't because I needed Logan to be okay. So I was looking through this album with him when I realized in almost all of the pictures he was there. It was like I didn't really have a childhood memory that didn't include him. Still I wasn't going to admit that to anyone until my dad told me to call Logan." Rory smiled and then started to laugh at the memory. "So I was in the kitchen and I called him and it turns out he'd been in my room the whole time. So he came downstairs and for the first time we had this talk that was real and it was emotional and it was what we needed. That night we slept together in our pajamas perv."

Stephanie shrugged. "God Rory I'm so happy. I just I feel like everything is back to the way it should be. So where do you go from here?"

Rory sighed. "I have no idea. I mean I guess we go back out now. Um other than that I don't know. I guess we just fall in love again."

"It seems to me you already have." Stephanie didn't say anything else though because they were at their destination. It was time for her to be all business. There was no way they were going to try to screw her on this venue.

Logan parked his car in front of Colin's townhouse and sighed. He suddenly felt really old. It dawned on him that Stephanie and Colin were getting married. That he was back with Rory which meant that it would be their time soon. All of a sudden everything was just put into perspective. He got out of the car and took a deep breath. Time to face adulthood.

Finn threw open the door as soon as Logan reached the last step. "Gosh mate what took you so long? We thought you were doggin' out on us and headed back to Stanford!" Finn laughed as he pushed Logan into the large space.

From the moment Logan walked in he realized that this was definitely Stephanie's taste. "Colin when did you turn into such a nancy?"

Finn laughed. "See mate I'm not the only one who thinks this is a total chick's apartment!" Finn clapped Logan on the back. "You don't know how good it is to have someone else who thinks that Stephanie is totally killing our friend's mojo."

Colin suddenly appeared from the back part of the house with a glass of orange juice in his right hand. "Mojo? I thought we stopped saying that like three years ago. I mean come on Finn. You have to admit that Anchorman was more funny that Austin Powers."

"Bollocks mojo will always be a cool word to say."

Colin threw his hands up in the air. "Okay the deal is today is a day to focus on Logan and the wedding. No fighting over the better movie or the better sport or the better guy to play the next James Bond."

Logan laughed. "It sounds as if nothings changed."

Colin shrugged. "No nothings changed except for Rory."

"I know. We had this really long talk last night and I came to two conclusions. I destroyed her when I left last time and that I am the luckiest bastard alive. Last night when I saw her with Dean I thought it all over. I was sure of it. I mean come on he's safe and everything Rory has ever been. I was this jerk who'd left her for my own selfish reason. Still she chose me. I mean it was like this moment of pure shock and elation when she told him to leave."

"So where do you go from here?" Colin asked quietly. In the entire time he'd been with Stephanie things had always been simple. They dated. They fell in love. They moved in together. Finn moved in with them as if he was their child. Colin proposed. Stephanie said yes. They started to plan the wedding. Sometimes he wondered if it wouldn't have been better to have a relationship that wasn't so easy. He thought about the love that Rory and Logan shared and was envious. In his opinion they're the quintessential couple. They struggle to survive when they're together by struggle even more when they're apart. The day Logan left Colin had never seen Rory more bitter at the world. Last night was the first time in three years that he'd seen the Rory he'd gone to high school with. It was refreshing to know that she was still here.

Logan smiled. "I think I'm going to propose, but you can't say anything. See I didn't give her my gift last night because I thought that I would do sort of scavenger hunt for her. Leave clues in all of these specials places like the spot where we first kissed---" Logan started to explain but was cut off by Finn.

"Balcony!" Finn shouted out.

Logan laughed. "Yeah her balcony and then the very last spot is who know the spot where we first made love."

"God you're too over the top for your own good. I mean come on could you show me up anymore than you already are?" Colin joked. "Stephanie is never going to let me hear the end of this."

"God you both are nancies." Finn joked. "To Logan's big gesture." Finn said as he raised his own glass to toast the plan.

Logan smiled and tipped his glass. He'd made the decision to propose last night as he lay there with her in his arms. He couldn't imagine not being with her all of the time. Half of his reason probably was the fact that he was tired of sneaking around but for the most part it was that he loved her. He loved her more than anything that he'd ever had a chance to love in his entire life. He needed her to survive. She was like air for him. When she wasn't there he felt like this wasn't getting enough.

Colin smiled. "We'll do it tonight seeing as Rory and Stephanie are supposed to go to Amanda Foster's baby shower tonight."

"Uh don't say baby shower say party. You know when you say things that pertain to people being adults it makes me feel too old to breath." Finn joked.


	9. Bryan Darwin and Dean

The second Rory walked into the dining room of the country club you could tell that she was looking for somebody. She pushed her sunglasses so that they rested on top of her head and then scanned the crowd. It took her a moment and then she found him. It only took her nine quick strides to be at the table in his arms. She kissed him passionately and sort of got caught up in the moment until Colin and Finn began to clear their throats. She smiled as she pulled away because once again she felt like everything was going okay as she stood there with him. She took the seat between him and Finn and tried to pretend that she hadn't just been making out with him in front of all these people. When she looked over at the table beside them she realized that the old biddies were talking about her. She could feel her cheeks redden. She hadn't meant to kiss him like that but she just missed him so much. She just wanted to feel that warmth and those tingles that sent throughout her entire body as if they were messing with her soul also. "Stephanie should be joining us in just a few seconds she just bumped into Bryan Darwin in the hallway and wanted to know if he was up for catering the wedding." Rory explained and then went back to blushing as Logan began to trace the lines on her hand.

Colin who had been trying not to laugh at the fact that Rory was blushing was no longer focused on the major amount of kissing he had just seen but was no instead fuming over the information Rory had just given him. "Bryan Darwin, as in freshmen year Bryan Darwin?"

Rory silently cursed Stephanie for not reminding her about Bryan Darwin. Okay so she thought that she recognized the name but she just attributed that to the fact that he was one of the hottest chefs on the East Coast. Now it was all coming back to her though. Freshmen year Colin and Stephanie had gotten into this massive fight about something stupid and trivial that neither of them could really remember. Well Stephanie got so pissed off and drunk that she decided to prove a point by moving out of Colin's dorm and basically in Bryan's. Not only was he a year older but he also smoked a massive amount of weed and was what Colin described as a Communist it probably didn't help that Bryan had been in love with her from probably the moment they met. Colin had always had issues with this fact even though Stephanie often reassured him that he had nothing to worry about. Stephanie and Bryan lived together for a month and a half. When she left his apartment finally she reeked of patchouli and a certain illegal herb. No one ever commented on why she left it though one night in a drunken stupor she did admit to Rory that being a hippy was just too dirty of a life for her. Rory sometimes laughed when she thought back to a stoned Stephanie Lancaster. Most of the time it was when they were alone together doing something superficial like getting manicures. She would look over at Stephanie wearing her pearls and a tennis bracelet of some kind and then laugh. "If by Bryan Darwin freshmen year Bryan Darwin you mean the famous East Coast chef then yes indeed it is that Bryan Darwin."

Colin got up from the table and threw his napkin down. There were few times when he actually lost his temper and this was one of them. The last time had been when Martha Stewart was convicted of insider trading. He couldn't lie he had a thing for the old blonde. She knew her way around a pile of money.

"I'd better make sure that he doesn't do anything to…rash." Finn replied hastily and then chased after Colin.

Logan smiled at Rory. "Do I want to know?"

"No I think I should save this story for a really inappropriate moment like Stephanie's bridal shower." Rory joked. She looked at him and then kissed him softly. "I've missed you."

Logan looked down at his watch and then back up at her. "It's only been three hours."

"Are you leaving tomorrow morning?" Rory asked sadly. She didn't want to the conversation to turn sour but on the entire drive here she'd been trying to decide whether or not he would really go.

Logan sighed and nodded. "I have to, but I'll put in the paper work for a transfer. I don't know how long it'll take but don't worry Ace I'll be back sooner or later. You can count on it."

"Well then I was thinking I had this baby shower to go to for Amanda Foster, but I thought I could just skip out on it and we could spend the night together." Rory whispered seductively in his ear. In fact her voice was so seductive that the second she heard it herself she blushed.

Logan smiled. "Well I thought I'd hang out with Colin and Finn tonight, but then I thought maybe after the shower we could meet up and then you could take me to the airport in the morning. I don't want you to shuffle your plans around for me."

Rory shrugged and opened her mouth to protest, but was soon cut off by the fact that Colin was chasing a fuming Stephanie who was stalking towards the table. Rory had a feeling that this wouldn't be good.

"I can't believe him. How dare he embarrass me like that? I'm not a damn child Colin. I'm a fucking adult. How could you make a fool of me like that in front of him?" Stephanie demanded once they were all sitting at the table.

Colin slammed his napkin down on the table. "Well excuse me for being a little worried but I do recall the last time you were alone with Bryan you turned into a pot smoking hippy."

Rory cut off Stephanie in an attempt to sooth things over. "In Stephanie's defense she wasn't so much a hippy as she was just a pothead she still wore GAP." Rory shot Colin a look. "Don't start shit Colin she converted before April 15th. She even bought you a present for you favorite day of the damn year. She loves you. She chose you. Plus Darwin is still not only a pothead, but more than likely a hippy also. You spend a month in college living with a hippy but you don't marry one."

Colin sat there and took a deep breath. You could from the expression on his face that he was wondering whether or not he should really take the time to apologize to her. "Rory has a point. I'm sorry Stephanie for being a jackass out there. It's just I love you so much I don't want anything to get in the way of our love."

Rory was sitting there smiling about the fact that she had been able to condense this situation before it could really get out of hand when all of a sudden she heard that her cell phone was softly ringing. She pulled it out and saw that it was her house. Briefly she considered the reasons that her mother may be calling her and then finally just answered the phone. "Hey Mom what's up?"

Lorelai sat calmly on her bay window looking down every few seconds to make sure that he was still simply sitting in his truck. When she had informed Dean that Rory was out and she didn't know when he would be back he said that he would simply wait for her outside then. She thought it best not to try to sway his decisions because from the looks of it he was kind of volatile. "He's sitting outside of the house in his truck waiting for you Rory. Would you like to explain why he's here? I thought you made it clear to him that you chose Logan."

Rory got up from her chair. "I'm on my way Mom. I'll explain then. It'll just be about ten minutes we're at the club." Rory shut off her phone and threw it back in her purse. "Logan I saw your car coming in do you think you could drive me home. I know this is awful but I really need to get home something has come up."

"Yeah sure of course," Logan assured her and then he too got out of his seat. "I guess we'll be back as soon as we can. If we're not back in an hour then go ahead and just come over to Rory's."

As soon as they were sitting in the car Logan looked over at Rory and asked in a serious tone "Are you going to tell me what's going on before we get there?"

Rory sighed. "He's sitting in the driveway of my house waiting for me to get home."

"Who is? Dean?"

Rory nodded. She couldn't believe that he was doing this. Last night she thought she had made it pretty clear that she wanted him out of her life. Now he was trying to force her to choose him again. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. Her blood was boiling. How dare he impose himself on her like this? It was as if he had no manners at all. The drive itself was about eight minutes and thirty-six seconds mostly because Logan was lucky enough to get all green lights. The second they pulled up to her house she saw his truck sitting there in her driveway. Rory began to get out of the car as soon as it was stopped. Logan grabbed her arm gently. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"I think I should be okay. Just wait here for me. It should only take a few minutes." Rory assured him. She walked up to the truck in a manner that said that she was taking no prisoners.

Dean sat there fiddling with stations quietly. He knew that she would take him back. She was just being dumb last night. It was all those rich white assholes that swayed her decision. There was no way she would choose them over him. She loved him. He knew that she loved him. She would be his no matter what. When she knocked on the glass window he jumped a little and then rolled it down. "Hey Rory I thought I'd come by and see what you wanted to do today."

"Dean I told you last night that it's over." Rory said calmly.

"You were a little drunk you didn't mean it. I know you didn't. You love me Rory. Remember you professed you love for me that night three and a half months ago." Dean said not getting the hint that she was angry. He even got out of his truck so that he could hold her in his arms when this was all over.

Rory scoffed. "Dean I'm trying to do this as nicely as possible."

"Do what? Don't be scared of our love Rory. I know that you were scared to love again. You don't have to be. I'll be there for you. I won't leave you for some college halfway across the country like that asshole Logan did."

"You don't know anything about Logan. Don't judge him. I don't love you Dean. I was drunk when I said that. I was drunk and hurt and was just trying to convince myself that I didn't need Logan. That is a lie though because I do need him. I need him almost as much as I need air and water. I love him. I choose him. So just leave."

Dean grabbed her arm and squeezed. "Don't be like them Rory. You don't have to be ashamed."

"Let go of me."

Dean's eye became sort of dark. "What am I not good enough for you? You want some rich white boy who's had everything given to him on a silver platter. I thought you were different but you're just like the rest of them. Rich spoiled brats all of you."

Rory squirmed. "Let go of me!"

Suddenly Dean felt himself being sucker punched. Dean grabbed his jaw in pain as he stumbled to the ground. "I think she said let go of her."

Dean slowly pulled himself up. He went to punch Logan but missed and found himself once again on the ground. "See us rich white boys we also are pretty tough. I used to play quite a few sports in high school. Oh like say hockey for instance was one of the many sports I played. I was pretty well known on the private school circuit for playing rough. So if you were smart then you would leave. Go back to your small horse town and leave Rory alone. See if you think I'm tough then you ain't seen nothing yet because she's pretty good friends with some pretty big strong guys who love the movie "Fight Club". Actually they loved it so much they wanted to start their own version."

Dean got into his truck and began to roll the window up. Before it was all the way up though he said one final thing to Rory. "You loved me and one day when this piece of shit leaves you high and dry you're going to regret this decision."

Rory stood there trying to keep herself together as Logan protectively held her close to him. "Are you okay?" he whispered softly.

"Yeah I'm fine now thanks to you. If it weren't for you I don't know what would have happened."

Logan laughed. "I think you could have taken him Rory. I've felt your leg strength when you get mad. You got quite the kick." Logan kissed her forehead. "You know the first time I ever met you, you were standing right here in this exact spot, you were shorter and younger, but still just as tough. I was this cocky jackass and you let me know what you thought of me. I also think this is the spot where I proclaimed that one day you would fall for my charms and would no longer be able to resist me."

"You were quite full of yourself weren't you?" Rory joked. As she stood there for a minute with him she saw something flash before her eyes. It was their future. It was Cape Cod summers. It was little kids with crystal blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. It was mornings sharing the paper. It was love so pure that it was downright dysfunctional. She looked up at him and realized that there was nothing more that she wanted than to be Mrs. Huntzberger.

I'm from Texas and Alabama and North Carolina mostly. It's only a few more chapters and then this baby is over. I know that this probably wasn't as much Rogan as you wanted but I thought it would just be a good one. I do have a direction. I don't think it's as fast as it may seem. You have to think okay so they have just gotten back together, but they've spent the last three years of their lives loving each other and holding onto this memory, plus before that they were together for a long ass time. I hope that you liked this chapter all of your reviews make me feel just so good. Please keep reading. I'm trying to write them faster. I hope you like that little bit about Colin and Stephanie it made me laugh when I wrote it.


	10. St Elmos's Fire and Power Ballads

It was nearly eleven when Colin dropped Logan off at the mausoleum that Logan not so affectionately called home. It had taken them over three hours to plant all of the clues. It would have probably only taken a little over two if Finn could have just kept his whiskey down. Alas Finn required them to stop almost every twenty minutes so that he could go relieve himself. He waved a somber goodbye to his friend and then backed out of the drive so that he could make it home before Finn tried to go out partying. Sometimes he felt like instead of keeping him young Finn was on the other hand making him feel really old.

Logan walked up to his house slowly. He didn't really want to go inside but knew that he had too. He at least had to say goodbye to his mother. He owed her that much. She may not have been the most affectionate woman in the world but he did know that she loved him. When he opened the door to the house he instantly recognized two voices his mother and her psychic. He said a silent thanks to God and then walked into the living room. "I don't want to interrupt you mother I just wanted to say goodbye. I'll be leaving in the morning. Rory is going to be the one who takes me to the airport." Logan didn't wait for her to reply knowing that she was so wrapped up in her psychic's phone reading that she didn't have the time or energy to focus on anything else. Quickly he went into his room so that he could avoid his grandfather who would soon be leaving his room so that he could get a night cap. It only took him a few minutes to find all of the things that he would need to make this night special for Rory. He wanted her to know that he loved her just as much if not more today than he did three years ago. After collecting all of the things that he would need he opened the doors to his balcony and made his quick escape.

Lorelai sat at her kitchen table smiling to herself. She was watching Logan climb out of his window. She knew that he would be heading for Rory's. Sometimes she wondered if she should be okay with him and Rory being together the way they were. Then she would look at a photo of them together and know that no matter even if Rory repeated Lorelai's mistake she would be able to hold her own because Logan would be there by her side. "Chris do you ever wonder what would have happened to us if I'd never accepted your proposal."

Christopher sat down at the table shaking his head slightly. "You would have been okay and more than likely to keep my mind off not having you I would have probably stayed as far away from you as possible. Of course I would show up sort of sporadically to let Rory know that I loved her and we would get together but then you'd push me away."

"Oh yeah?" Lorelai questioned after sitting back down at the table with a fresh cup of coffee.

"Yeah and one night I'd show up and would be drunk and would try to convince you that I still love you but of course you would have moved on with some other guy. Balding maybe but still decent shape and he would have some profession that speaks to you like he would own a coffee shop."

Lorelai scoffed. "What makes you think I want some almost balding coffee shop owner?"

"Well because you'd never have to worry about a meal ever again because he would keep you well stocked in bagels and coffee." Christopher joked.

Lorelai nodded sagely. "Oh but of course I would love him for his coffee."

"I would be heartbroken and would live out the rest of my days regretting most of the choices I made. See there is no way that I would ever be able to find a girl who likes Styx half as much as you do." Christopher whispered and then started to give his wife a kiss but then instead pulled his head back.

"What?" Lorelai asked with her eyes closed.

"Who the hell is climbing up our terrace?"

"What?" Lorelai asked as if she really didn't know.

"Lor how long has this been going on?" Christopher knew that Lorelai had to have known. There was that little glint in her eye that said she was aware of everything that went on. He for the most part was oblivious because he was either always on the phone or on the computer.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Since like their freshmen year of high school. They don't do anything I'm almost sure of it. I asked Lorena if she noticed anything looking you know sloppy and she said no. I think they just spend time together."

Christopher started to say something in protest of these late night get togethers when Lorelai walked over to him and smiled coyly. "I think I'm in the mood for a power ballad."

Christopher wanted to go upstairs and to let it be known that he didn't like the fact that his one and only daughter was having her boyfriend come over at night, but knew that Lorelai wouldn't let him even if he tried so instead he followed her into the den. He figured that there were worse things in the world for Rory to do behind his back than have her boyfriend for what seemed like forever come over. Plus it was Logan. He wanted Rory to be with Logan. So this was a good thing. It was a step in the right direction. Christopher gave up on the whole thought all together and went back to focusing simply on Lorelai.

Rory pulled her car into the driveway of her large house and sighed. The night had gone smoothly but of course there had been quite a few times when Rory was nervous that everything would go downhill. Bryan Darwin was, but of course the caterer for the evening and was good friends with Amanda Foster. Rory thought she was going to die when she saw him sitting in the corner nursing a glass of wine. Stephanie on the other hand seemed to brighten up when she saw him. The rest of the evening of course consisted of Stephanie getting drunk with Bryan and remembering the good old days. Sometimes Rory wondered how Stephanie made such a good debutante when she could at times be just so unladylike. It had taken her twenty minutes to convince Stephanie that it was time to go home. By the time she got Stephanie home her friend was passed out. Rory smiled when she noticed that the light in her room was on. She had spent the whole evening wanting to be here with him. She knew that in the morning Stephanie would apologize for her behavior but it didn't make Rory feel any better about the situation. She needed to be with him right now more than ever.

Logan had just finished getting the room ready when Rory walked in. As usual he was taken aback by her beauty. She was standing in the doorway with her heels in her left hand. Her hair was slightly disheveled and you could tell that she had had a long evening but still she was gorgeous. There was nothing about her that wasn't beautiful. "Hey…" after he got done giving her a long kiss.

"I can't believe you did all this." She said as she walked further into the room. He had put in the c.d. that she had made him a while ago when they were still in high school. He had bought all of her favorite snacks. The best part though was that he had found the collection of videos that they had made starting with freshmen year. It was like a Logan and Rory smorgasbord. "Where did you find those tapes?"

"Actually they ended up with me at Stanford. They sort of helped me cope with everything while I was there." Logan explained as he led her over to the bed. "I think I have one you'll really like to see." He replied and then pressed play.

_It was a warm summer night and everything was dark, but definitely not quiet. Everyone was sitting around a big bonfire making predictions about their lives and sharing a bottle of champagne that Stephanie had stolen from her brother's wedding reception. _

_Stephanie who was clearly the drunkest was attempting to hold the camera and drink champagne. When she was finished she passed the bottle to Colin and then asked in her best Barbara Walters voice "Where do you think we'll be in ten years."_

"_We'll I'll of course still be exotic and living my life just as my hero George Clooney does. The rest of you we'll you be boring and responsible." Finn replied and then took a big swig of the champagne."_

_Colin laughed when he noticed that it was his turn to speak. "I don't know. Hopefully we won't be like St. Elmo's Fire, because we all know which roles we would fit. Stephanie would be Jules because we all know she has a thing for extravagance. Finn would be Billy because he basically already is Billy minus you know the kids and the marriage. Rory, sweet Rory, would be Wendy, because even though our dear Rory is much prettier and more elegant looking she is definitely the only normal one in the bunch. I chalk it up to the fact that her parents weren't old enough to be her grandparents when they had her. That leaves Logan, he's a hard fit, but I would have to go with Kirby because he is good at love isn't he. Plus he has the spontaneity." _

_Stephanie scoffed at least that's what the noise she made sounded like. "You forgot to give yourself a character."_

"_Oh well I of course am Alec the closet Republican with an insatiable sexual appetite." Colin said as if that was the most obvious thing he ever had to make clear._

_Logan laughed. "Oh yes I see it too. Seriously I can't say anything about you guys but Rory and I will be living happily ever after."_

"_Damn then I better can Hans, and tell him our date for tonight is off." Rory joked._

"_Yeah I think that would be a good idea." Logan gave her a soft kiss._

_Stephanie stood up. At first she wobbled a bit, but finally she regained her balance. "A simple toast to our lives as journalists, tax auditors, event planners, permanent bachelors, and adults."_

When the video was over Rory looked over at Logan and smiled. "I'd forgotten all about that night. It seems like so long ago. All of us on that beach. Drunk off our asses. Talking about things we had no idea were coming so fast."

"Sometimes I wish we could go back to that time in our lives because at least then we still were innocent and naïve. We still thought that everything was going to be okay. That was the last summer that we able to be kids. After that we had to be responsible for things we knew nothing about." Logan admitted. "I think we understood one thing though. We understood that no matter what we would be together as a couple. We would love each other more than anything else in the world in ten years."

"Do you still think we're going to live happily ever after?" Rory questioned. She stared into his eyes as if she were actually reading his soul.

Logan smiled. "Of course we will. There are four things you can count on in life. Finn's always going to be somewhat drunk no matter what time of the day. Colin is always going to be into money the way most people are into say sports or hobbies. Stephanie will always have an eye for beauty. The most important thing to remember is that I'll always love you and I'll always want us to have a happily ever after."

Rory kissed Logan as if there were no tomorrow. She used the kiss to say things that she didn't think she could. She told him that she loved him more than she had ever loved anything in her entire life that included reading. She told him that she didn't know if she would be okay while he was waiting to see if his transfer would be accepted. She told him that deep down she still worried that he would leave her again for something else. She told him that she felt like her life was worth nothing if he wasn't in it. She told him that while he was gone she struggled everyday with the realization that she would never love again. she told him that she needed him in her life like she needed air.

Logan gently laid Rory down on the bed and then slowly began to undo the buttons on her blouse. He stopped in the middle of what he was doing and gave her a look that asked if this was okay. Her small smile let him know that she wanted it just as bad. As he continued to unbutton her blouse he wondered if this was the first time she had had sex since graduation night. It was the last time the two of them had been intimate. Of course he hadn't slept with anyone because he hadn't moved on with his life, but Rory had. So he wondered was she ever intimate like this with Dean. He decided that she probably wasn't only because Rory was so shy about everything but especially this. He doubted that she would do something this special with someone like Dean.

Rory woke up that next morning to a feeling of pure bliss. She felt as if last night had been one of the best nights of her life. In the time she had been gone she'd forgotten how much she'd missed being intimate with Logan. She looked at the clock and felt herself want to cry. She would need to wake him up soon so that he could get on his plane. She wanted to tell him not to go, but she knew that she couldn't do that.

It took them a half hour to get to the airport mostly because of morning traffic. Everyone was commuting back and forth from Boston. They stood together in the terminal not saying anything just holding each other for what seemed like forever. Rory felt herself want to cry when he finally pulled away. "I'll be back as soon as I can Rory. I swear. I won't stay a moment longer than I have to. I'm so sorry I ever decided to leave." Logan whispered in her ear before giving her a long and passionate kiss.

Rory couldn't say anything more than that she loved him too. She watched as he gave his ticket to the woman and then she watched him start to board the plane. Suddenly he dropped his one carry on bag and then ran over to where she was standing and gave her one more kiss. "One for the road." He explained and then he went back into the tunnel that would lead him to the plane.

Rory wiped the tears from her eyes and willed herself to be stronger. She turned around and started to leave, but not before she heard someone call her name. "Miss Hayden! Wait please!" Rory turned around and saw that a woman carrying a white envelope was chasing after her.

"Your boyfriend told me to give this to you. He said that you were not to read it until he was boarded on his plane." The woman explained and then left Rory standing there with the white envelope in her hand. She decided against reading the note here and instead shoved it in her purse. After getting in her car she knew that the only person who would should be present when she read this note was Stephanie.


	11. Soap Operas and Bloody Noses

Rory walked into the townhouse carrying a box of donuts in one hand and a burrito in the other. She'd decided that while everyone else would be up and sober this morning Stephanie probably would be having a serious hangover. As soon as she walked inside she felt lame because of how predictable their lives had gotten. Finn said it was Stephanie and Colin's fault primarily because they were acting so responsible by getting married and paying bills. "Stephanie's in the back moaning. Hurry back though because you have to see what's going on with Anita and Danny it's just so heartbreaking." Finn said without even turning his attention away from the television.

Rory laughed as she walked away. Finn was watching his Australian soap operas just as he did every Monday morning. They never went to class on Monday. Stephanie had convinced Rory not to by making one good point. They are always still too frazzled on Mondays to concentrate on class. She could hear Stephanie moaning from halfway down the hall. She didn't bother to knock and walked straight into the room. "Have no fear the perfect hangover antidote is here." She joked and then tossed Stephanie the burrito.

"You killed it when you threw in antidote. Seriously Rory you need to dumb down your vocabulary sooner or later." Stephanie said in a voice that was as close to joking as she could get.

"Hey eat that and then take a shower after you're done with all that then I've got something to show you. Believe me this something is really good." Rory got up and left the room so that she could go get caught up on the show. She sat down on the couch next to Finn and grabbed a donut. "So what's going on with Anita and Danny? I thought the heartbreak was over for them. I thought Danny had finally accepted what happened with Joe?"

Finn sighed and shook his head. "It's bollocks really Danny is convinced that Anita shagged with Joe and we all know that all they did was snog a little. I'm telling you Danny has got to be the biggest numbskull on the planet."

"Why would he think she and Joe went that far?"

Finn shook his head even more. "Well you remember that pommie Tessa? Well she's decided that she wants Danny all for herself no matter what she has to do to get him. So she went up to him last night and asked how he felt about sharing his shonky Shelia with a bludger. Well of course that sent him off on a tail spin because he's such a moron he doesn't even see when she's playing him."

"Huh?" Rory said with a confused look painted on her face.

"Oh sorry Rory sometimes I forget you know. Remember that Brit Tessa? Well she's decided that she wants Danny all for herself and she doesn't care what she's going to have to do to get him. Last night she went up to him at the bar and asked him how he felt about sharing his lying girlfriend with a worthless piece of shit like Joe." Finn translated for Rory and then focused all of his attention back on the show.

Rory smiled and sort of half listened while she twirled the envelope between her fingers. She wondered what it said. She had to read it. It was her letter after all. She had every right to just go ahead and read it. She started to open the envelope and then there was a knock on the door.

Colin got up from his place in his lazy boy where he was reading his paper and opened the door. He quickly pulled off his glasses as soon as he realized he was standing there with them on. "What the hell are you doing here?" Colin exploded.

Rory's head shot up. She was in the middle of trying to decide whether or not she should open the letter. She got up from where she was sitting with Finn half sitting half standing behind her. She knew he wanted to come but Anita and Danny were now having a heated argument. She wasn't even halfway to the door when she recognized who was there.

"I spoke to Stephanie last night at the party. I told her that if I would bring her some sample menus as soon as I got a chance." Bryan explained.

Colin quickly turned on his heel. "He was at the party!"

Rory gulped. She knew something like this would happen. Sometimes she just wanted to kick Stephanie's ass. "Yeah, he was the caterer. Still Colin I think you should go finish your paper and just let me finish talking to him"

Colin ignored Rory. "Stay the hell away from my fiancé! I mean it! You don't want to piss me off anymore than you have right now!"

"I don't have to keep coming to her if you keep acting like the jackass you are then you'll send her running to me." Bryan said with a cocky grin on his face.

Colin balled his hand up into a fist and it pulled back and as if in slow motion he punched Bryan right in the nose.

"Colin what the hell are you doing?" Stephanie exclaimed. She had just gotten out of the room and had heard all the noise.

Bryan was holding his nose which had blood gushing out of it. "You prick! I think you broke my nose!"

Colin stood there not saying anything just looking at his hand. He'd never punched somebody like that before. He'd seen it in movies and everything but he'd never actually done it.

Rory didn't know what to do. She watched Colin stare at his hand. She knew that he must be feeling an unbelievable amount of pain right now. She rushed to where he was standing and began to look at it. She grabbed him over to the kitchen and began to make a bag of ice.

"Is somebody going to tell me what's going on here?" Stephanie was seething. She was now standing over by Bryan trying to help him stop the bleeding.

Finn sighed and got up off the couch. "What the heck? Colin, mate, did you do this?"

"Stephanie I just came over to drop of the menus. They're over there." Bryan said pointing to the mess of papers on the floor. "I'm going to go ahead and drive myself to the hospital. I'll understand if you don't hire me as your caterer." Bryan started to leave.

"Wait Bryan I'll drive you." Stephanie said and grabbed her keys off the table.

"Steph wait, please, don't go. Let me explain." Colin protested and started to move towards.

Stephanie looked at him as if she didn't even know him. "I'll be back later to get my things. I can't deal with this Colin."

When Stephanie left the room was silent except for Danny and Anita on the television. It was like nobody could believe what had just happened. Rory looked at Colin and could see that he had tears in his eyes. She knew that it was because of what Stephanie had just said and not the throbbing pain in his hand. She tried to think of something to say. Finally she blurted out. "Logan gave me a letter at the airport."

Finn gave Colin this sly smile. "Yeah well then how come you're not reading it yet."

"She wanted to share it with Mrs. Darwin." Colin replied bitterly as he pulled a beer out of the refrigerator. He looked at the clock. It was a quarter to ten. Who cares if that made him look like a drunk. He needs it.

Rory sighed. "Don't call her that. Colin before you get drunk will you read it to me?" She asked in her sweetest voice possible.

Colin took the latter from Rory knowing better than to protest.

_Dear Ace,_

_I know you must be wondering why in the world I had some stewardess flag you down after I boarded the plane. Before I explain I've just got to know is stewardess still politically correct or is it flight attendant and does she even count as being one because I've never seen one of those desk people actual get on a plane? Okay well I guess I should get back to the point. I decided to do it this way because we all know that I am a fan of the dramatic touch. I wanted you to wonder. I wanted you to try to figure it out without opening it. _ _I won't lie. I'm scared. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without you here in my life. That's why I'm writing this letter. I've given you a very special birthday present. This is the first clue of many. At the end of the clues you will find your present. _

_Clue Number One: This is the spot where I asked you to go to the homecoming dance with me. Now before you freak out the very first homecoming dance that I asked you to._

_With all my heart and all my soul, Logan_

"I'm guessing your going to want us to go on this hunt with you." Colin replied after taking a big swig of his beer.

Rory smiled. "Well let's look at it this way. You'll get your mind off of the fact that Stephanie just left her with Bryan I mean we all know that as soon as she sees that ring she'll be completely over it. She knows you're not the kind of guy who just punches people out. Plus I'll owe you so big."

Colin scoffed. She was making sense but he didn't want to admit it. She was right. He needed to focus on something else. "Steak and you'll wear that pink dress Stephanie picked out at the store."

"Oh come on!"

"Take it or leave it." Colin found that he was now grinning.

Rory finally gave him the stare down and then shrugged. "Fine a steak and the dress. You're sick. Do you realize that? You're just flat out sick."

Colin grinned. "Oh come on I'm a wounded man."

"You know if Stephanie hadn't just implied she was calling off the wedding I would totally take you down right now." Rory said.

She smiled to herself and tried to imagine what her present was. She sort of hoped in the back of her head that it was something precious. Something that money couldn't buy. Something that would have taken a lot of consideration on Logan's part. She sort of wished that it would be him at the end of the trail. That he would be standing there with a bow on his chest. Smiling at her as if he had nothing in the world to lose. She stood there for a moment and just wished that he was here. That he was holding her in his arms and whispering sweet nothings in her ear.

Finn come up behind her and whispered ever so gently. "Dreaming of him are we?"

"Who else could make me smile like this?"

Finn couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she saw the ring. He knew that she would accept his proposal. There was no way that she could really say no. There were some loves that were simply flings. Logan and Rory's love would never be like that.


	12. Paddle Boats and Long Drives

Rory looked over at Colin and frowned. He was staring out the window as if he was lost. She knew that he was worried about his relationship with Stephanie. That was obvious by the way that every few minutes he would shake his head and sigh. He was probably remembering their relationship. It was definitely a tumultuous one. So tumultuous that it totally caught Rory off guard when Logan told her about Colin's crush on Stephanie. She was shocked. They'd always argued so much about everything.

_Rory was quietly reading a book about the Kennedy's in the back of Chilton's large library. In one hand she held a highlighter and with the other she fiddled nervously with her hair. The novel was getting to her favorite part of the Kennedy's history. It was beginning to discuss Robert's children. She turned the page and started to read but suddenly someone covered her eyes. "Guess who?" they whispered playfully in her ear._

_She bit her lip. "I don't know. Is it Peter Jennings?"_

_Logan laughed. "Yes that's exactly who it is. Peter Jennings, your favorite newscaster here to sweep you away to a news desk." Logan sat down in the chair across from here. "Still seriously Peter Jennings? That is really a little weird Ace."_

"_Aren't you supposed to be in Accounting right now?" Rory asked knowing full well that he would totally bullshit her into being okay with him cutting class._

_Logan smirked. "Ah but you see I have a little sheet of paper saying that I am allowed to be here because I am retrieving my notebook from you."_

"_Why would I have you notebook?" _

_Logan smirked a little more. "Because I put my notebook in your book bag this morning while you were getting another coffee and before you ask why I put my notebook in there it's because I have a secret to tell you."_

"_Why didn't you tell me this morning?" Rory was intrigued. Logan always had good secrets._

"_Because I had to wait until I knew you wouldn't be able to see Stephanie. See you see her first period which means you would have wanted to tell her this secret and some way somehow you would have accidentally let the cat out of the bag. So I figured hmm how do I keep you from telling her? Well I tell you now because you won't see her for the rest of the day." Logan explained with ease. There was something hot about his cockiness which made him even cockier._

_Rory rolled her eyes. "Fine I'll admit I do have a tendency to tell Stephanie secrets. So go ahead tell me. I promise I'll attempt to keep it. I'm dying Logan you have got to spill the beans."_

"_Well what are you going to do for me if I tell you?" _

_Rory smiled and then whispered in his ear. "I won't make out with you for an entire month if you don't tell me and if that isn't enough then how about I will also tell Colin that you were the one who dumped the bubble bath stuff in his hot tub." _

"_Colin has a thing for Stephanie actually he has a huge thing for Stephanie. Huge as in he wants to be her escort for the ball. He talks about her all the time and he even skipped his favorite show on Bloomberg News to help her with her French." Logan whispered into his girlfriend's ear._

"_That is huge. Wow. Oh my god. You have got to be kidding me." Rory was shocked. She couldn't believe it. Colin and Stephanie had a hard time being in the same room with each other for more than ten minutes. _

"_I wish I was joking, but I'm not. So this is the time where I take my notebook and I go back to class before Mrs. Peterson sends the National Guard for me." Logan kissed her tenderly on the lips before grabbing his notebook and turning to leave. He was almost out of sight when he turned around and mouthed the words I love you to her._

_Rory sat there in her chair in awe. Wow Colin and Stephanie. Next people were going to tell her that Ethel Kennedy's nephews didn't kill that girl. _

"You know Colin there's nothing to worry about. This how thing is going to blow over in no time."

Colin looked over at Rory and sighed. "I wish that was true but for some reason I have this feeling like this fight is going to pull us apart instead of bring us together. I can't keep dealing with all of the shit that she pulls Rory."

"I used to think about Logan all of the time. I thought that this was the one that was going to really do it. It was really going to end us. Then something dumb would happen and it would all be forgotten. Colin she loves you. Plus Bryan can't afford to take care of her."

"Stephanie and I have never been like you and Logan. I wish we could say that we were but we weren't or rather aren't. I remember the first time we met. You had come to Andover for the weekend to celebrate Logan's birthday. You walked into the room carrying this big box and wearing jeans and a sweater. I remember watching Logan watch you. There was this look in his eye that said whoa. We were in eighth grade. He was already talking about going to Chilton. When you had gone to the bathroom I asked him if you were the reason he was going to Chilton and he didn't bother to try to lie. Instead he simply said yes. Stephanie and I don't have moments like that. We've always sort of somehow just managed."

Rory kind of laughed. She couldn't believe he thought that she and Logan were the perfect couple. "The thing is Colin Logan and I never fought in public. We saved our anger for private moments. We were better at pretending to be happy than you and Stephanie were. I love Logan. I always have loved him. I probably always will love him. That's all that matters. If you know you love them then that's all that matters." Rory pulled into the parking lot of the driving range and smiled. She had almost forgotten the day he asked her to homecoming. It had been so long ago.

"_You know Logan nine out of ten girls would have refused to go shoot some balls at the driving range. They would have also told you that it wasn't really an appropriate date." Rory replied as she placed another ball on the small tee and grabbed her nine iron out of her bag. _

_Logan went behind Rory and fixed her stance so that she was more even with her ball. He loved watching her play golf. There was something about the way she looked when she was focused on that small ball that drove him crazy. "Well luckily I'm with the one girl that is willing to play golf." _

_Rory smiled and then hit the ball as hard and as far as she could. She loved to play golf. She went with either Logan, her grandfather, or her father at least once a week. She went into her bag and grabbed another ball and saw that it had some small writing on it. She brought it close to her face and saw that it little black letters it simply said HOMECOMING? She looked over at him with a confused look on her face. "Is this your way of asking me to homecoming?"_

_Logan nodded. "Is this your way of accepting?" _

"_No this is." Rory said simply before pulling him close to her and then passionately kissing him on the lips. _

"_I like that way better." Logan whispered just before kissing her again._

"You want to get in a couple of shots before we leave?" she asked Colin as she started to get out of the car.

Colin looked back at Finn who was fast asleep in the backseat. "Yeah sure but just a few because the last thing we need it be arrested or something at the driving range because Finn can't hold his champagne."

A young guy wearing a bright blue polo smiled warmly at the pair as they walked up. He looked down at the small picture on his desk and realized that she was the girl he was supposed to give the clue to. ""Hi what can I do for you two today?" he asked as if he knew nothing about a clue.

"I think a guy left something here for me." Rory was having a hard time containing her excitement. She hoped that it wouldn't take too long to find all of the clues. She was dying to see what he left her.

The guy explained that before she was allowed to get the clue she had to be able to hit the ball all the way to the 450 ft. marker. Rory sighed. Logan had been smart. He wasn't going to let her just breeze through this little hunt. She took the nine iron and balls that Logan had left for her and then went to the very first area. She was just about to swing when she realized that she couldn't do it in the heels that she was wearing so she took them off and handed them to Colin. It took her eight tries before she could finally reach the 450 ft. marker. When she was done she smiled triumphantly at the man and received her next clue. "He better not have made them all this hard." She muttered under her breath as she read the clue as she walked to her car.

Six hours later she was on the very last clue. To receive clue number three she had to eat an entire plate of shrimp fettuccini alfredo and a whole piece of cheesecake, because that was what the two of them always shared whenever they went to Giovanni's their favorite date restaurant. To receive clue number four she and Finn had to paddle boat across the lake and back because it was in said paddle boat that Logan had first told her that he loved her. The easiest clue to earn was clue number five because all it required was for her to drive to her family's home on Cape Cod because that was the place where they became as close as two couples can become which was the way she put it into of saying having sex. Now she was driving back to Connecticut struggling to figure out the answer to clue number six. It said in bold letters the place where I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. At first she thought maybe it was in Cape Cod but soon she realized that it couldn't be. All of the drama had finally caught up with Colin meaning he no help because he was fast asleep in the back seat of the car where Finn who was now driving had once slept. Finn decided to go easy on her. After everything she had to do to earn the clues he knew she deserved a break.

"He wrote you a letter once Rory. Do you remember that? He wrote to you while on a sailing trip." Finn hinted at the answer. He knew she was too tired to think of that on her own. Even Finn who knew Rory and Logan's story better they did themselves didn't know the answer.

Rory suddenly realized the answer. She also realized that Colin and Finn had helped him plant the clues. Before she had thought it was little weird how unsurprised they were at all the places. Now it all occurred to her. "The last clue is planted on The Socialite. I can't believe you knew all of the answers and didn't tell me. So come on make it up to me and tell me what my present is."

"Nope love I can't tell you your present. That would ruin the surprise. Logan put too much time and effort into this whole shebang for me to do that."

Rory looked at Finn with a shocked expression written all over her face. "That was the most responsible thing you've ever said. I mean really. Oh it looks like my little Finny is growing up." Rory joked as she lightly pinched his cheek.

Finn looked over at her offended. "I am still a child thank you very much. My father reminds of that point nearly everyday."

Rory almost jumped out of her seat before the car had come to a complete stop as soon as they reached the docks. You could tell she was just about to burst. You could also tell that she had no idea that Logan was leaving her a ring. She grabbed Finn's arm and forced him to run after her as they searched for The Socialite. It was the fifth from the last boat in the harbor. She ran onto yacht and searched for the clue as if she was a little kid searching for her Easter basket. When she found the clue she sat down on one of the seats and slowly opened it. "So this is the last clue my darling. You don't have to leave to find your present. I'll make this one an easy one. Where do we spend most of our time whenever we take the boat out?" Rory got up from her seat and went into the cabin where she saw a large box. She opened it and realized that he was going to be an ass and pulled the box within a box within a box trick. Eight boxes later she saw a small black velvet box and gingerly picked it up. She slowly opened the lid and then she-----

That's where I'm going to leave this chapter. I think I will have about three more and then this story will be done. I'm sorry that it took me so long to update I just couldn't figure out where I wanted to go next. I tried to include the memories so everyone could get their Rogan fix. I thought the name of the yacht was especially brilliant. I'm joking. Thanks for reading. I don't know if this was my best chapter. Sorry I didn't describe each clue in such detail it was just I didn't want to draw it out too much. Please review I love to read them!


	13. Vegas and Cops

She opened the lid to the small velvet box and then she sat down hard on the bed in disbelief. She pulled the ring out of it's box and held it her in hand. She looked at it for a moment in complete awe. She couldn't find the words to describe what she was feeling at that moment. She looked over at Finn and could see that he was sort of crying. "Is this what I think it is?"

Finn smiled at Rory and sort of wiped away his tears and then he kissed her on top of her head. "He told me to read you this letter when you found the ring." Finn reached into his pocket pulled out the folded up white sheet of paper. He cleared his throat a little and then started to read.

_I hope you like your birthday present. I've waited three years to give you this gift. I wanted to before I left for Stanford but I thought it would be dumb to ask you for a long distance engagement. It wouldn't have been fair of me to force you to put your life on hold while I tried to sort out my issues. I don't want you to feel like you have to say yes Ace. I would love it if you did but you don't have to. It was on this very boat that I realized I needed you to survive. You were my sun, my moon, my air, my water, and most importantly my reason for living. If you would like to spend the rest of your life with me then look under the pillow there is another surprise for you._

Rory looked at Finn a little unsure but went and retrieved a white envelope from underneath the pillow. She opened it and saw that there were four tickets to Las Vegas in it. "Vegas? He wants us to all go to Vegas?"

Finn smiled. "Yeah love he thought maybe you could skip the big to do and go straight to I do. I thought that was pretty brilliant of him actually. I mean with everything that has been going on lately. Look at how things just fell for Colin and Stephanie."

Rory looked down at the tickets and then back up at Finn. He was right. It would probably be much smarter to just go ahead and tie the knot. Spontaneity was a good thing. She smiled at him. "Okay let's go wake Colin's emotional ass up and then head back to the bat cave. Maybe Stephanie will have come to her senses and will be there when we get back."

Finn kissed Rory's forehead and gave her a big hug. "I'm so happy for you. I mean you and Logan deserve all the happiness in the world. With everything that has gone on I'm happy you two somehow found a way to make it."

Colin was standing outside of the car waiting for them as soon as they got back. He had this big goofy smile on his face. It was like he was a little kid waiting for his present's on Christmas morning. "So are congratulations in order?"

Rory nodded.

Colin picked her up and sort of swung her around in a circle. "I know you'd say yes. Now you've said yes even to going to Vegas?"

Rory simply nodded again. She couldn't really find the words to speak. She was on the verge of tears. This was the happiest moment of her life. She couldn't believe that she would always be known as the girl that got Logan Huntzberger to settle down. She wondered if she should call her mother and grandmother. She thought about it for a few minutes and then decided against it. They would be furious at the thought of her marrying him in some cheesy twenty four chapel where they guy would dress like Elvis for another ten bucks.

When they got to the townhouse they were all relieved to see that the lights were on. Stephanie had come to her senses. She had realized that Bryan wasn't just some innocent bystander. Rory got out of the car and ran up the steps to tell her best friend the good news. She was now wearing the ring which she noticed was Logan's grandmother's ring. It was one of the most beautiful antiques she had even seen. It had a white gold band with a diamond in the center that was surrounded by little blue sapphires. It was the most beautiful and perfect ring she had ever seen. She threw open the door to the townhouse ready to pounce on Stephanie. She found Stephanie sitting on the couch quietly with two cops on either side of her. "What the hell is going on Stephanie?"

"They're here to arrest Colin for attacking Bryan earlier today." Stephanie replied in a cool manner. It was like she had been brainwashed or something.

Colin and Finn walked into the house and both had the same reaction as Rory did. They were in shock and disbelief. "Stephanie I'm so happy you're back sweetheart. I'm so sorry for my rash actions earlier today."

Rory turned around. "Colin do not say anything else. Stephanie isn't back because she wants to be here and because she's forgiven you. She's back because she was waiting for you with the officers. She's having you arrested for attacking Bryan." As soon as Rory said the name Bryan Darwin walked out of the bathroom. His nose was swollen and had some sort of bandage on it. It was hard to recognize him.

"Stephanie you've got to be kidding me." Colin said as he moved out to touch her. As soon as he took a step the cops sort of bounded on him.

They read him his rights and then hauled him out the door. Colin looked helpless. He didn't say anything. He just stared at Stephanie the whole time as if he didn't recognize her. It was like the two of had never met before. He was probably trying to convince himself that this was all just a big joke or something. That his fiancé hadn't turned on him. He looked at Rory and Finn and knew at that moment that this wasn't a joke that she had in fact sided with that asshole Bryan Darwin.

"Which precinct are you taking him too?" Finn asked desperately as they lead Colin out of the room.

"The 48th it's located on Jennings Road." The fat old cop replied as he hauled Colin out of the door.

"Finn you need to go call Mr. Lawson so he can meet them at the station. Stephanie I think you need to leave." Rory replied briskly.

Stephanie saw the ring on her hand and rushed forward to look at it. "He asked you to marry him?"

Rory snatched her hand back. "Yeah he did. We came back here thinking we were going to celebrate the good news and instead we have to deal with the fact that Colin now being taken to jail. How could you do this to him? I just want you to know that we were all going to go to Las Vegas tonight because that was where Logan and I were going to get married. Now it looks like we're not going to be able to. When we do go you're not invited. I can't believe you would do this to him. Bryan Darwin provoked Colin. He basically called you a whore. Colin did nothing but protect you."

Stephanie looked at Rory in disbelief. "So if he doesn't drop the charges I'm not invited to your wedding? I'm not allowed to be a member of your lives anymore?"

Finn rushed into the room. "Mr. Lawson said he'll be there in fifteen minutes. I told him we would meet him there. What is she still doing here?"

"I was just about to ask her the same question. The answer to your question is yes that's right. Colin loves you. He's always loved you. Bryan just wants to lay you. I want my old Stephanie back the one who was getting married and was excited about spending the rest of her life with an IRS agent."

The car was silent on the ride over to the station. Finn was probably worried about Colin, but Rory was worried about Logan. Should she call him and tell him what was going on? Should she just try to solve this situation as fast as possible? She didn't know. All she knew was that she was going to be Mrs. Logan Huntzberger sooner or later. That was one thing she could be happy about.

I know I know not as much Rogan, but I thought this one needed to happen. The next two chapters will be much more Rogan I promise. I hope you liked this one.


	14. Andy Rooney

1Logan was nervous. He was nervous and fidgety and didn't like the fact that he was either one of those things. Normally Logan had nerves of steel. He was calm, cool, and collected but sitting in the Las Vegas airport at 11:00 at night Logan just felt like he was going to puke. He ran his hand over his face and tried to shake away this nibbling feeling that she wasn't going to come after all. He replayed her short voicemail over and over again in his mind. She sounded sincere. Some would even say that she sounded excited. Still he couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't sitting in Hartford laughing and thinking that this was a wonderful way of getting back at him for all of his mistakes. He was replaying the message in his mind again when he heard them announce that her plane had landed. He rushed through the crowd to the gate and waited impatiently for her to get off the plane.

Rory quickly collected her purse and got up from the seat. She didn't even bother seeing if Colin, Finn, or Stephanie had heard that they had landed. She took a deep breath. She looked down at her nails briefly and sighed. This whole elopement had really taken its toll on her now very short nails. She sighed only Logan could get her to bite her nails again. She didn't even bother saying goodbye or anything to the flight attendant. Instead she just sort of pushed her way past them and sort of ran to where he would be waiting. She looked back for a moment to see if they were anywhere near her and wasn't shocked to see that they were still on the plane. Was she the only that was really excited to see Logan? She guessed that it probably had something to do with the fact that she was marrying him. She saw his messy blonde hair and smiled. She sort of ran toward him and in classic romantic comedy fashion she jumped into his arms.

Logan held onto Rory for dear life and smiled. He had been waiting all day to see if she would come and now she was here and he didn't think he'd be able to let her go. During the entire flight all he could think of was how good their lives were going to be now that they were getting married. They would have kids and be happy. They would have the whole fairy tale romance that people dreamed of. When people asked how long they had been together he could say since we were freshmen in high school. The sheer thought of that reply made him smile.

Stephanie found it difficult to hold back the tears as they neared the couple who were simply standing there holding onto each other. It was the type of scene you would see in a movie. She wondered if Logan had something scripted and sweet to say. She laughed silently to herself at the thought of him saying something like "You had me from hello... " she once again let an aw escape her lips. She kicked herself for almost keeping this moment from happening. All because of some dumb prank that she had thought would be hilariously funny. She was just grateful that Rory had a sense of humor because she had a feeling that if someone had done that to her she would have had a cow. She grabbed Colin's hand and smiled. This was the way things were supposed to be for all of them but especially Rory and Logan. Nobody in Hartford deserved this kind of bliss more than Logan and Rory.

"You know Logan if you let her go she's not going to run away but if she did runaway she would get like halfway to the exit and then be too winded to finish. Believe me Rory isn't really a runner on a normal day which means that after everything she's been through today I highly doubt she's going to have the strength to outrun all of us." Colin joked and punched his friend in the arm.

Logan let Rory go and smiled. "Haha Colin that is so hilarious. Almost as hilarious as the thought of you actually breaking someone's nose. I heard about Stephanie's prank."

Rory stifled a laugh. "Okay we're not going to discuss that for the rest of our lives because not only does it make Stephanie feel awful it also was too dramatic for words." When Rory and Finn had gotten to the address the cops had given them they discovered that instead of going to a station the cops took Colin to a Dunkin' Donuts. It turns out that they were actors hired to do a job. Everything was this big prank that Stephanie had devised after Colin and Finn tricked her into thinking that Filene's had been bought out by Wal-Mart.

Logan looked at his watch. "We've got twenty five minutes to make the chapel."

Rory looked up at him alarmed. "What? We're getting married tonight?"

"I can't wait another minute Rory. Everything is set up. All we have to do is get there before 11:30. The ordained minister has to be upstairs to watch Jay Leno." Logan explained and then kissed Rory on her forehead.

Stephanie squealed. "I am so excited. This is going to be so fabulous. I still can't believe you somehow pulled off getting married before me."

"That's because Rory doesn't want a fifteen thousand-dollar ceremony." Colin pointed out as they walked out of the airport.

"You all do realize that now Vegas will always be special. I love Vegas. I'm telling you dreams come true here." Finn replied as he got into the back seat of Logan's rental.

Lorelai fidgeted in her seat as she waited for the group to show up. She looked at her watch again and sighed. Logan had promised that they would be here by 11:30. Now she was having her doubts. How would they make it in time? The drive from the airport took forever. She looked over at her husband and smiled. "Is it normal that we are attending our daughter's quicky wedding that she didn't even invite us to?"

"Oh of course it is. I think I saw something on Desperate Housewives just the other day about a situation just like this. Seriously the real question is whether or not it's normal that we are giving our only daughter our blessing to marry Logan. She's only twenty-one Lorelai. Isn't that a little young to get married?"

"We were seventeen Chris."

"You were pregnant." Chris shot back.

Lorelai laughed. "At least Rory's getting married at twenty-one because she wants to and not because she's sort of being pushed into the situation. Before you say something about how you don't want me to think that I had to marry you that's not what I meant. I married you because I loved you. I knew that there was no one else who could get me the way you did. You knew the five things that really matter when it comes to a woman. Logan loves Rory the way you love me. We both know that. We've known that. We have to give them our blessing because this is a blessing. Rory has found love at a young age. She's found a good decent guy who will take care of her and support her in every decision she makes. She's one of the lucky ones."

Christopher sighed. His little girl was growing up and he didn't know how he could be happy about that. In his head whenever he thought of Rory he saw this little brunette that could ask you more questions than you could answer. He started to say something back to Lorelai when the door to the church opened and in rushed Finn smiling.

Finn rushed toward the minister and whispered in his ear that the bride and groom along with their respective witnesses were changing and would be out in a minute. Then Finn took his seat in the front row.

Rory looked at herself in the mirror and then looked at Stephanie. She was stunned. "Did you tell him that I had loved this dress when we went shopping that day?"

"No Rory to tell you the truth I was so self-consumed that day that I hardly noticed anything but the one I picked. I mean I remember thinking that one was amazing and that you looked lovely in it but to tell you truth that was all that I did was think about the dress not talk about it." Stephanie told her friend and gave her a peck on the cheek.

Rory looked stunning in the long white gown. It was the kind of gown that you wore at a big wedding not something like this. She wondered if she was only bride to ever get married here that looked like she was on her way to a gala. She was quite sure the answer was yes. On the way in they saw pictures of the happy couples and almost all of them were wearing regular clothes. One of the couples was actually wearing Elvis costumes.

Logan took his place at the front of the chapel and waited for her to enter. He knew that she was probably standing in that room shocked about the dress. He'd found it on-line when he started planning this whole thing. He knew that this was the dress for Rory. It should have been called Rory. He smiled when he saw the door open and Stephanie sashay into the room. She was wearing the green dress that they had bought her the other day. He thought she would think it was funny.

Rory slowly walked into the room and was surprised when she saw that her parents were here. They were here in this chapel about to watch her get married. She wondered if her father had known this whole time. Logan was too traditional for his own good. She took her place at the front of the chapel beside him and almost started to cry right then. He was wearing a simple tux but he looked stunning. Not many men could make a tux look as good as Logan could.

The minister opened his mouth to speak and surprised everyone by sounding like Andy Rooney. "Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to join together Lorelai Leigh Hayden and Logan Elias Huntzberger in holy matrimony. If there is anyone in this church who objects please speak now or forever hold your peace. Okay I'm going to ask you two one long question and if you agree simply say I do and if you don't well say you don't. I hate those long speeches about nothing that you always see as conventional weddings. Do you take the other to love them for the rest of your life even if it may not always be fun and exciting, even if there may be hard times, even if it may mean sacrificing things that you normally wouldn't think you could give up, even if it means loving one when they are sick?"

Rory wanted to laugh at the fact that Logan had hired an Andy Rooney impersonator to perform their wedding. She knew this was why she loved him. He knew her. "I do."

Logan looked at Rory and smiled. "I do too."

The minister smiled. "I thought you might say that. By the power invested in me by the State of Nevada I know pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Logan kissed Rory as if there was no tomorrow. As if in the next two seconds the world was going to end. He kissed her like this was their last kiss. He told himself that he would always kiss her like this.

When Rory pulled away, she whispered "What no wedding band?"

Logan blushed and motioned for Finn to come up here. "The bands."

Finn pulled them out of his pants pocket and handed them to Logan.

Logan gave one to Rory and then put the other on her finger. He allowed her to do the same. "I'll love you forever."

Rory smiled. "I'll love you forever and a day."

Lorelai and Christopher walked up to the couple smiling brightly. Both of them had tears in their eyes. "Thank you so much for making sure that we were here today Logan. It means the world to us. Now I know you guys don't was us here spoiling the rest of your honeymoon so we are going to go ahead and stay the night and then fly back in the morning. We wish you all the happiness in the world."

Logan looked down at Rory and smiled. "Now that I have Rory as my wife there is going to be nothing but happiness."


	15. Irwin Schwartz and Toothbrushes

Disclaimer: I wish I owned GG because then Christopher would be portrayed so much nicer and he would have gotten the girl.

A/N: This starts back up about two and a half months after their wedding. I skipped that time in between because I didn't think it was necessary.

"You know rumor has it that Irwin Schwartz is divorcing his wife Allison after thirty years of marriage for one of those masseuses at the club. Palmer said he saw Irwin talking to Alan Greer, you know the divorce lawyer who is famous for leaving the wives with nothing. What a shame." Emily replied before taking another bite of her steak.

Lorelai shook her head. "Wait didn't Allison stay with Irwin even when he was being investigated by the SEC for insider trading?" She couldn't help but enjoy gossiping with her mother. For many years she had tried to avoid it, but lately her mother seemed to find actually interesting things to talk about.

"Why yes she did. I had completely forgotten about that whole fiasco. Rory don't you have a class with his daughter Ellen. I'm pretty sure she's the product of an affair with a waitress in Boston if my memory serves me right."

Rory was staring at her food trying not to throw up. She had been feeling under the weather for the last three weeks. Every morning she woke up and threw up. Then she went about her day wanting to eat all sorts of weird foods. She didn't tell Logan because she was afraid he would get worried and start smothering her. He had enough on his plate right now. His transition from Stanford to Yale was proving to be hard. It seems he was a little behind at Stanford. She looked up at her grandmother and started to open her mouth to speak but before she could even start a sentence she knew that she was going to throw up. She got out of her seat as fast as she could and ran straight to the bathroom across the hall from the parlor.

Logan looked over and shook his head. "She hasn't been feeling well lately. She thinks she's caught some sort of bug. I don't know. I keep telling her to go to the doctor but she insists that it isn't necessary. I'm just going to go check on her." Logan explained and then got out of his seat. He was pretty sure that he had hidden the fact that he was worried about Rory from her family. He didn't want them to be alarmed. He could hear her throwing up from outside the door. He didn't bother to knock but instead walked straight in. "Rory honey I really think you should go see a doctor." He replied as he pulled her hair back from her face.

"Logan I'm fine. It's just a bug. It'll pass. You didn't have to come check up on me." She replied quickly before throwing up again.

Logan looked away as his wife filled up the toilet even more. When the dictionary defines devotion they never give you a realistic definition like this. This was what devotion was really all about. "Rory I highly doubt that you barfing like three times a day is the side effects of just a bug. When we get home I'm going to call and make an appointment at the doctor's office for you."

"Fine go ahead and make an appointment. Still I think I'm done." Rory replied as she got up off the floor. She looked at herself in the mirror and groaned. "Will you please go get my purse for me so I can touch up my makeup and brush my teeth."

"You're carrying a toothbrush around with you now?" Logan asked as he left the bathroom. This whole situation had gotten out of control. He should have called the doctor three weeks ago.

Emily looked at the latest addition to her family expectantly. "So is everything okay in there. Tell Rory that it's fine if she wants to go ahead and go home. I realize that she must be feeling just dreadful."

"I'll tell her. I don't know she seems to be feeling much better. You know how these things are. It's just one of those days I think." Logan tried to sound as if he wasn't worried at all and then he took the purse and brought it back to her. "Your grandmother wants you to know that if you don't feel good we can go ahead and leave."

Rory sighed. "Tell her that we'll stay for the rest of dinner. I'll be out in a minute." Rory looked back at herself in the mirror and groaned. She got her cell phone out of her purse and dialed a familiar number.

Stephanie was sitting at home on her couch sketching the table setting for the wedding when her home phone rang. She started to yell for Colin or Finn to get the phone but then remembered that they went to watch a Rugby match at the bar. She grabbed her phone just as it was starting to ring for the fifth time. "Hello?"

"Stephanie we've got a problem." Rory replied as she put the lid to the toilet down and then sat.

Stephanie tossed the notebook down on the couch and started to internally freak out. "What's the matter?"

Rory took a deep breath and then said the four words she had been dreading. "I think I'm pregnant."

Stephanie gasped. "What?"

"I think I'm pregnant Stephanie. I've been having morning sickness and weird cravings. Plus I haven't had my period in almost three months. The last time I had it was the week before my birthday."

"Holy shit Rory. I'm pretty sure you're pregnant Rory." Stephanie replied. She didn't know whether to be happy for her friend or to be upset about the situation.

Rory took a deep breath. "Will you bring one of those home tests to my apartment in the morning? Logan has political science early so I'll be home alone."

"Yeah that's no problem. I'll stop there on my way to class." Stephanie said and then there was silence. "Rory?"

"Yeah Stephanie."

"This is a good thing Rory. This is a really good thing. You are going to be such great parents." Stephanie replied. "I mean as long as you're right and you are pregnant."

"Thanks Stephanie. Well hey I have to get back to the dinner table before Logan comes back. I don't think the thought of me being pregnant has even occurred to him yet. I think right now he thinks I'm coming down with something serious. I don't know. Do you think he'll think this is a good thing?" Rory asked her friend.

"Is Finn Australian?" Stephanie replied as if the question was to stupid to answer with a yes.

Rory nodded. "Bye Stephanie." She hung up her phone and put it back in her purse. She went to the mirror and brushed her teeth. Then she threw on some fresh blush and lipstick and left the bathroom.

"Everything okay Rory?" Christopher asked his daughter as she took her seat at the table.

Rory smiled. "Yeah everything is just fine Dad. Don't worry." She felt Logan take her hand under the table and she couldn't help but smile. Things were going to be good. Pregnant or not things were going to be just fine for them.

I will update the next chapter as soon as I can. I have a research paper due next Monday and it is driving me crazy. I hope you liked this chapter. I thought it was pretty good.


	16. Pharmacies and Christmas Trees

1Stephanie stood in the middle of the aisle trying to decide which test she should buy Rory. She was the type of person who hated making a decision out of fear that she had made the wrong one. She had started out with seventeen tests to choose from. After hard deliberation she had gotten it down to six. Still six was too high of a number. She couldn't buy six different types of home pregnancy tests. That means that Rory would have had to have drunk a lot of coffee. She was leaning towards the EPT test, but every time she started to choose it something in her head made her go back and take another look at the other tests. This would lead to more deliberations on which test would be the best one for her. She looked at her watch and groaned. She was twenty six minutes late. Last night she had told Rory that would be there by nine, but it was now 9:26 and she was still undecided. She took a deep breath and grabbed the EPT test and started to leave the aisle. She was nearly off the aisle when she turned around and grabbed two more boxes. She carried them to the checkout counter and let out a sigh.

The man at the register looked at her a little funny. He had been watching her for at least fifteen minutes. He had never seen someone pour over home pregnancy tests quite like she had. "I hope you found everything all right."

Stephanie smiled. "Finding the tests isn't the problem. It's choosing which one I would like to purchase that leads to me standing in front of them for nearly forty five minutes."

"Well it doesn't hurt to be thorough." He accepted her money and then gave Stephanie her change. "I hope you get the results you want."

Stephanie didn't even notice that the man thought she was buying the test for herself. She was too caught up in deciding whether or not she should go back and take a second look. She looked her watch again and realized that if she didn't get to Rory's soon then she would be in a world of hurt. She rushed out of the pharmacy and hopped into her vehicle.

Rory gently put ornaments on her brand new Christmas tree in hopes that the activity would keep her mind off the fact that Stephanie was late. She had a feeling it had something to do with the number of choices Stephanie had when choosing a home pregnancy test. She knew that she should have just told Stephanie a brand name instead of leaving the decision up to her best friend. She placed the last ornament on the tree and smiled. The tree was a product of her and Logan's weekend getaway to her parent's cabin in New Hampshire. She wanted to go to buy a tree. He wanted to go to get away from it all. The weekend didn't really go as planned. Rory found herself on her knees in the bathroom denouncing food all weekend while Logan held her hair back out of her face and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. The Christmas tree was the only thing they managed to get before leaving. Tuesday afternoon after class Rory and Finn went in search of ornaments. They looked for an hour to no avail and decided to eat at this cute Italian bistro. It was there that they found out where to buy the cute personalized ornaments that now hung on their tree. All of them would lead to a long and probably embarrassing story for someone.

Stephanie parked her car in front of Rory's townhouse and hurried up the steps. She knew that Rory was probably going mad inside. She didn't even bother to knock and instead went straight in. "Rory I'm so sorry it took me so long to make a decision. I really think they should attach a rating system to home pregnancy tests. Like a five star system."

Rory couldn't help but laugh at her friend. "Its fine I had time to finish the tree at least."

Stephanie turned around and looked at the beautiful tree and smiled. It was so funky. It was so hip. It was so Rory and Logan. She put the bag containing the test on the coffee table and then began to look at the ornaments. "How did you get our pictures on there?"

"How about we do the test and then while we're waiting I'll tell you the story." Rory grabbed the bag and took out all the three of the tests. "Three tests?"

"Well just in case we got one with a defect. What are the chances that we would get three with a defect?" Stephanie explained. "Now go in the bathroom I'll be here when your done and don't forget to grab the timer."

When Rory returned from the bathroom she was holding the timer in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other. "Never in a million years did I think that a small white stick or rather three small white sticks would determine my future."

Stephanie nodded as she pretended to be interested in the ornaments. She didn't no what to say to Rory. All she could do was stand there and wonder if Rory would ever live to be the girl they thought she would be. No one ever thought that Logan and Rory would be the first ones to settle down and have a family. Both of them had big dreams. Both of them planned lives that never really seemed to have room for children. She racked her brain to think of one foreign correspondent with children. If she could just think of one then she knew that Rory would be able to accomplish all of her dreams.

"Stephanie please stop killing yourself trying to figure out if a female foreign correspondent with kids actually lives. There are plenty of them." Rory told her friend. "It's not my career that I'm worried about as much as my marriage."

Stephanie looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "Why would you be worried about your marriage?"

"Logan and I have never discussed kids. We've never said if we even wanted kids. We're in early twenties is this really the right time in life to be creating life? I never thought I would be one of those girls who started a family before they started their life."

Stephanie walked over and sat down next to Rory on the couch. She gently placed her arm around Rory's shoulder. "Last night Colin and Finn didn't get in until late so I had plenty of quiet time. I spent most of thinking those exact same thoughts about you. I wondered if this child would really be a blessing or if it would just be a burden because it would force you to put your life on hold. I wondered all of these things and then I realized something. Life is full of surprises and we don't get to choose which ones we get. Then it wouldn't be a surprise. You two are going to be great parents. The two of you are brilliant, gorgeous, level headed, and you realize that there is more to the world than just Hartford. I can understand why you are so scared but you don't have to be. You'll have Finn, Colin, and me to help you two ever step of the way. I think between the five of us this kid has a pretty decent change at living a good life."

Rory had started to cry and was now wiping her eyes. "God not only am I nauseous all of the time now I'm hormonal and emotional too. You really think we are going to be good parents?"

"You two are going to be amazing parents. We all are. I mean we've had enough practice over the years raising Finn and all."

Rory laughed at her friend and looked down at the timer. Twenty six more seconds and then she would know for sure whether or not she was pregnant. She looked down at her hands and smiled. "Sometimes you kill me. I don't know how you can be so wise and so goofy at the same time."

Stephanie started to say something but then the timer went off. She watched as Rory walked slowly to the bathroom. You could tell she was nervous. It seemed as though she was about to throw up. It only took Rory a couple of seconds to read the results and then she came back into the room. Stephanie looked at her quiet friend who was on the verge of crying. "Is that a yes I'm pregnant cry or a no I'm not pregnant cry."

"It's a yes I'm pregnant cry." Rory replied as she wiped her eyes.

Stephanie jumped up off the couch and gave Rory the biggest hug she could muster. "This is a good thing Rory. A really good thing. I even thought of a way to let everyone know that you are pregnant."

Rory laughed. "Only you would be thinking of announcements at a time like this. What is it?"

"Well you get a card and say put your pictures on the outside and on the inside it says _Logan and Lorelai Huntzberger are pleased to inform you that they will be welcoming their first child in the world next year. The month due, the babies sex and all other details are still up in the air for the time being. Hope all is going as well for you as it is for them. _What do you think?" Stephanie replied with a flourish. She loved creating announcements and cards. It was her thing.

Rory smiled. "I love it."

"Good because I already sent a design to the printers. They can be out as early as next Monday." Stephanie replied and then hugged her friend again. She couldn't help but want to jump up and down every time she thought of this child. It was going to be so cute. It was going to be so rich. It was going to be so loved. It was so lucky. "Does Logan know?"

Rory shook her head. "I just didn't know how to tell him. I started to a couple of times but I always stopped. I just didn't know what to say. I didn't want to tell him and then be wrong."

"I know. Just don't wait and then have him figure it out on his own because we've had enough drama lately. I don't want this to turn into some shitty complicated romantic drama. Make this a romantic comedy and keep the happiness going until the very end." Stephanie looked at her watch. "Shit I have to go. I'm meeting Colin's mother for brunch at the club. The woman is a vulture. You know she actually thinks that my bridesmaid dresses should be tangerine. I can just see the horror of the whole event. Oh I love you Rory. Tell him tonight. Then call me and let me know so I can tell Colin and Finn."

Rory laughed and watched as Stephanie left. She looked down at her stomach and sighed. She went into her room and climbed in the shower because she only had a couple of hours before she had to go to her afternoon seminar on early American history. The warm water felt so good on her soft porcelain skin. She ran her hand over her stomach and smiled. Stephanie was right. This was going to be a good thing.


	17. Shock and Awe

Rory walked into the house to find Logan sitting on the couch nursing a beer and watching Anderson Cooper 360. She had been distracted throughout her entire lecture. Most of the time she spent thinking about what this baby would look like once it was born. She'd decided that if it was a girl then she would want it to have her petite features, her blue eyes, and love for reading. Other than that she wanted the girl to be all Logan, charming, sophisticated, suave, mysterious, sweet, and of course free-spirited. If it was a boy then she wanted it to be just like his father. She sat down on the couch next to him and just sat there watching television with him. She snuggled into his protective touch.

Logan looked down at Rory and found himself worrying. Rory was usually nothing but chatter after a lecture. Today she seemed to just want to be next to him. He gave her a kiss on the forehead. He took a swig of his beer and went back to watching television.

Rory sat there trying to figure out the best way to break the news. She was still a little shocked. She sat up a little and looked at him for a moment. "Logan…" her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Hey what's the matter? You come in all quiet. Now you're whispering. What's up?" Logan asked concerned.

Rory gulped. She took a deep breath. "I've got something big to tell you. It's something so big that it's hard for me to find the words to explain it to you."

Logan instinctively took her hand and simply nodded as a sign to continue.

"This morning Stephanie came over and uh well I took a home pregnancy test…"

Logan found himself unable to breath. "And?" he choked out.

Rory ran a hand over her face and then took another deep breath. "It confirmed my suspicions. I'm pregnant Logan. We're going to have a baby. Sometime in June, at least that's what I think by my calculations; we're going to be proud parents."

Logan sat there silent. He was frozen. He was trying to figure out the proper response but all he could do was blink. His heart was pounding. His palms were getting sweaty. His mind was racing. "Are you sure?"

Rory nodded. "Stephanie bought three tests just to make sure. They all came back positive. All the nausea and everything else is just a reaction to the fact that I'm pregnant. I need to know how you feel about this."

Logan let out a breath that he hadn't realized that he was holding. "I feel…happy. I just wasn't expecting this. How do you feel?"

Rory smiled. She wiped her eyes. At some point the tears had just started to fall. She hadn't even realized just how emotional she was. Maybe it was the hormones. Maybe it was the fact that he was happy too. She didn't quite know. "I feel like this is going to be one of the best things to ever happen to us."

Logan kissed her. He kissed her hard. When he pulled back he just looked at her and smiled. He wiped his own eyes. He felt like such a baby. "We need to celebrate. We need to go to Steph and Colin's and we need to party like we have never partied before literally because we won't be drunk when the night is over. This is so great. Have you told anyone else yet?"

Rory shook her head and smiled. "No, well Stephanie knows because she was there, but no one else. I thought you deserved to be the first to know. Do you think we could go to my grandparent's first? My mother and my grandmother are there planning for the big Christmas party. It's only three days away. Things are probably pretty crazy so this should lighten the mood."

Logan nodded. "Just let me go grab my wallet and keys and then we can go."

Lorelai sighed and took a drink of her Cosmopolitan. She was tired. She had spent the entire day going over the guest list. The question they were dealing with now was whether or not to invite Irwin Schwartz. "Mother the man is a total ass and a pig. Who cares if he was one of dad's biggest and most prominent clients."

"Fine, okay, I get it. I just thought it would be a little judgmental to not invite him. Okay so I think that's it. We have two hundred and thirteen guests." Emily replied with a sigh. "Do you want me to get you a refill?"

Lorelai smiled. "Yes please."

Rory knocked on the door and waited for…Greta, was that the maid of the weeks name?...well anyway she waited for her to answer the door. She no longer felt like she was going to pull her hair out. She couldn't wait to tell her parents the good news. When "Greta?" finally opened the door Rory rushed in and smiled. "My mother is?"

"Your mother and grandmother are in the dining Mrs. Huntzberger." Greta replied and watched as Rory rushed to the back of the house. She silently thought that it was nice to see Mrs. Huntzberger in a much better mood than last night.

Rory rushed into the room smiling and breathing heavy and feeling as if she was on the verge of crying again. "I've got news."

Both Lorelai and Emily were a little startled to see Rory rush into the room. "What's going on Rory?" Lorelai asked slowly. She could tell that her daughter was excited about whatever it was that she had to tell them.

Rory smiled and then blurted out. "Logan and I are going to have a baby. You're going to be grandma and great grandma in about six months!"

Lorelai sat there frozen. She was shocked.

Emily on the other hand quickly got out of her seat and hugged her granddaughter. "Oh this is wonderful. Lorelai say something! Don't you think this is wonderful news?"

Rory smiled. "Grandmother don't worry Logan reacted the exact same way."

Lorelai smiled and got out of her chair. She was starting to cry. She hugged Rory tightly and then kissed her on her forehead. "My baby's going to have a baby. I'm going to be a grandma. This is so great. Where's my favorite son in law? I need to hug and kiss him too."

Rory smiled and nodded. She dabbed her eyes. "He dropped me off. He wanted to run to the store to grab some sparkling cider. We're actually sort of technically on our way to Stephanie and Colin's. I just wanted to tell you both first. I had this announcements created and they'll be going out as early as Monday so don't be shocked when you get hundreds of phone calls asking if it's true and telling you congratulations."

Lorelai hugged her daughter tightly and then whispered in her ear, "I can't believe this day has come this fast. It seems like yesterday I was at your wedding. Then it was like I was at your twenty first birthday bash. I was at your high school graduation. I was at your debutante ball. I was there for it all. This is so good, so shocking…but so good."

Rory smiled. "How good?"

"Andrew McCarthy in Less Than Zero good."

Rory let out laugh. "That's pretty damn good."

FINISHED….I'm thinking about a sequel so watch out for one.


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